Some Kind of Wonderful
by Kristen Elizabeth
Summary: AU- In 1965, America was caught up in war and revolution...and everyone was catching on.
1. I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Disclaimer: I never claim to own anything but plot line. Story plotline, not the show;)  
  
Author's Notes: I posted the first two chapters of this right as this site went completely nuts, so I'm posting it again so I could change the title and fix a few things;) I hope you enjoy; it's a story I'm having a lot of fun telling.  
  
Dedication: This whole story is for my Daddy, even though he'll never really know;) He is my hero, having served two tours of duty in Vietnam in the mid 1960's. A painful part of his life, but one that he has shared with me. I love you, Daddy.   
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
"And when I touch you, I feel happy inside...it's such a feeling that my love...I can't hide...I can't hide." -The Beatles  
  
****  
  
Peacecraft, North Carolina  
April 1965  
  
"And at the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded, #01 steps up to the plate." From the little booth high over the screaming crowd of fans, the announcer continued. "Heero Yuy, graduating senior and captain of the varsity baseball team has certainly lived up to his number in this, his last season, with nine home runs. Can he make it ten to round off his high school career?"  
  
"Yes, he can!" A feminine voice, drowned out by her classmates, answered the announcer with much indignation. "Come on, Heero!! You can do it!! Home run!"  
  
Someone tugged at the bottom of her skirt. "Sit down, Relena. You're blocking about five people behind you."  
  
Relena Peacecraft looked down at her best friend, hands propped on her cinched waist. "Hilde, if it were Duo up to bat, nothing short of a nuclear attack could keep you in your seat."   
  
"True." With a little sigh, Hilde stood up and brushed off the back of her tight, cropped blue jeans. "All right, Heero!" she cried, clapping her hands. "Take it all the way!!"  
  
Down on the field, Heero Yuy swung two bats back and forth, testing their weight. After a moment, he tossed one aside and shook out his arms. Suddenly, he heard the umpire call a time out.   
  
His best friend, Duo Maxwell, jogged over to him from the home team dugout. "Heero, man!"  
  
"What's going on? Why the time-out?" Heero demanded as soon as Duo was within hearing distance.   
  
The other boy clapped a hand onto Heero's shoulder. "Lots of pressure from Coach back there. And from everyone up there..." He glanced back at the crowd. It didn't take long for him to spot the two people he was looking for, the fresh-faced blonde in a sweater set and the dark pixie in denim. "With Relena watching and all...I wanted you to take a minute to get your shit together."   
  
Heero's eyes followed Duo's gaze until he spotted his long-time girlfriend. A smile nearly touched his lips to see her clapping madly, smiling at him like no one else in the world could. He looked back at Duo. "I don't need a minute. If I strike out, I strike out. Life will go on."  
  
Duo caught him by the sleeve of his jersey before he could walk back to the plate. "You sure? What about NC State? The scholarship?"  
  
"We'll find out soon." Heero signaled to the umpire to end the time-out. "Won't we?"   
  
"He's ready now. Heero Yuy, at the plate, batting for Peacecraft High for the last time. Here's the pitch..." The announcer drew in a breath. "And it's in the dirt. Ball one."  
  
Back in the dugout, Duo chewed on his thumbnail. "Come on, man..."  
  
"The pitcher winds....Yuy swings..." The announcer's voice raised to a feverish pitch. "What a hit!!!! Oh, sweet Lord, did you see that?! It's over the fence!! Home run number ten for number zero-one, Heero Yuy!!"  
  
Relena was already on feet when Heero sent his bat swinging the final time. She heard the wood smack against the hard ball; the crack was like lightning. Her eyes followed the ball as it sailed in a high arch across the players before falling back to the earth on the other side of the field's fence.   
  
She let out a loud cry as her boyfriend began running, without even waiting to see where the ball had gone. "Heero!!" she cried with as much feeling as her slender body could produce. Beside her, Hilde jumped up and down on the wooden stands.   
  
"All right!! Way to fucking go, Heero!!!" Duo ripped the baseball cap off his head and joined his teammates in screaming on their captain as he reached first base. "Hope you were watching that, Mr. State Recruiter!"  
  
By the time Heero approached second base, he had slowed down considerably. The roar of the crowd was enough to tell him that he had done it; running the bases was merely a formality now. He shook his head as he jogged, unable to hold back a smile. When he crossed over the home plate, the cheering picked up again, reaching a new level of sound and fury.   
  
Heero was unaware of his teammates, gathering around him. He couldn't hear Duo yelling congratulations and explicatives in his ear. He didn't even notice that he had been lifted off the ground and was being carried around the field. His focus was completely on the girl in the middle of the crowd, staring back at him with pride and joy. His girl for as long as he could remember.   
  
****  
  
"I can't believe we're fucking graduating tomorrow."   
  
Relena, ignoring the curse word, reached across the diner table to pat Duo's head. "It'll be all right, Duo. Remember this time last year? You were convinced we'd never make it to tomorrow night. And we have." Under the Formica table top, Heero's hand gently squeezed hers.   
  
"The prom queen has spoken." Hilde licked a spot of milkshake off her full lower lip and smiled at her boyfriend. There was no bitterness in her voice; she had headed the campaign to get Relena voted. "What does the prom king have to say about it all?"  
  
Heero untangled his fingers from Relena's to rake his bangs off his forehead. "About all of what?"  
  
Duo answered for his girlfriend, gesturing widely with a cold french fry. "Graduation, baseball scholarships..." He looked meaningfully at his best friend. "Wedding bells?"  
  
Flushing a dark pink, Relena looked down at her plate. "Duo..."  
  
Her boyfriend cleared his throat. "Let's just get through graduation first, okay?"  
  
Hilde came to the couple's rescue by yanking on her boyfriend's long braid of hair. "You forgot Hollywood for me." She threw her head back into a dramatic pose.   
  
"For a good reason." Duo's smile morphed into a scowl. "I still don't want you to go."  
  
Sensing a long-fought argument re-surfacing, Relena looked at Heero. "I need to be home in an hour or else my brother will be coming after me."  
  
He nodded and stood up, reaching into the pocket of his dark pants for money to cover their dinner. As Relena eased out of the booth, the discussion over Hilde's post-graduation plans escalated. "It's so far away, babe!" Duo's voice held equal parts worry and anger.  
  
"Exactly!" Hilde replied. "I have to get out of this town, Duo, or else I'll go crazy!"  
  
"But I'm in this town!" he protested.   
  
Relena threaded her arm through Heero's and shot the couple a sympathetic look. "Bye, you two." She gave them a little wave which they didn't notice as Heero escorted her out of the packed diner.   
  
There were a lot of approving looks and shouts of congratulations as Heero opened the passenger's side door of the 1959 Cadillac he had slaved every summer for three years to buy. Relena slid into the car and waited a moment until Heero was behind the wheel. She didn't have to ask where they were going. With an hour until she was due at home, a short stop at Pinnacle Park was on both their minds.  
  
****  
  
Heero had first laid eyes on Relena Peacecraft, the only daughter of the town's founding family, when he was eight years old. He and his mother, having lost William Yuy only five months earlier, moved to Peacecraft, North Carolina to start a new life in the house that just happened to be next door to hers.   
  
His father's death had hit Heero hard. He had refused to go to school, prompting the move and the change in scenery. That Sunday, in the early spring of 1955, Heero was scheduled to start school at Peacecraft Elementary the next day. He was already planning how to skip out.  
  
The best place to think was at the top of a good climbing tree. His old house in New York had been home to just such a tree, and the only redeeming feature of the new house was that it did, too. Still in his Sunday suit, Heero made a beeline for the tree and began climbing.   
  
He was a third of the way up when the branches became much thinner. He didn't know what kind of tree he was climbing, but it was very different than the one in New York. Heero looked down at the ground, seemingly miles away. Common sense compelled him to descend to a safer level. But the limbs above beckoned, and he answered.   
  
Heero lost his footing when he was halfway up the fifteen foot tree. He didn't cry out as he fell; several branches helped break his fall. The ground was a like a slap to his small body, and for a long moment, he couldn't move.   
  
The next thing he was aware of was a little voice calling out to him. "Are you all right?! Can you hear me?"  
  
He cracked an eye open. Through the grass that pressed against his cheek, he could just make out a tiny person in a pink organdy dress. His lip curled up in disgust. It was a girl who had come to his rescue.   
  
She didn't wait for his reply and the next thing he knew, she was kneeling next to him on the grass, mindless of her dress and started tugging at his shoulders, as if to flip him over. "Say something!" she ordered him. When he didn't reply, she stood up. "I'm going to get a grown-up!"  
  
Heero's arm shot out and grabbed the white ruffle on her ankle sock. "I'm okay." He dragged himself off the ground and shook out his little arms. "Don't worry about me."  
  
The girl's blue eyes were wide and wet. "I thought you were dead!" She sniffed. "I should still get my Daddy to..."  
  
"Only babies and girls run to the grown-ups." Heero crossed his arms over his grass-stained suit.   
  
Something in the look she gave him managed to put a small crack in the shell his father's long illness and death had created around him. "But I am a girl," she had whispered.   
  
From that day on, Heero's mission in life had been to take care of his rescuer, the girl next door, not because she was just a girl, but because she was *his* girl. And he had no problems with school from then on; school-time was just more time spent with Relena.   
  
In the years that followed, she would become his playmate, his confidante until the turbulence of adolescence formed a thin barrier between them and they each sought out friends of their own sex. Then, she became the object of his innocent desires and fantasies. His girlfriend. He had held her hand through the tragic car accident that had claimed both of her parents; she had been by his side through a painful appendectomy. They were inseparable. In Peacecraft, it was hard to mention one of their names without mentioning the other.   
  
****  
  
Their first kiss had been at the exact spot he now pulled his car into, only five years earlier on a picnic blanket. Still thinking of the past, Heero put the car into park, leaving the engine running for the radio.  
  
A moment passed as he watched his girlfriend twist the radio's dial to find a suitable station. In truth, Heero could have stared at her for hours and been completely happy. She had grown from a precocious child to a graceful girl and then, into a beautiful woman. Her long, blonde hair was pulled into a high ponytail, revealing her slender neck. The sweater she wore was conservative, her older brother wouldn't let her out of the house any other way, but the material clung to her full breasts and small waist in away that made his head spin.   
  
When she found what she was looking for, a song from the new Beatles band, Relena turned to Heero and smiled. "Have I told you how proud I was of you today?"  
  
He reached across the wide front seat to stroke her soft cheek. "I saw you up there in the stands. It helped more than you can ever know."  
  
Relena closed her eyes at the touch of his fingers. "Heero," she whispered.   
  
Edging towards her, Heero continued. "You looked so beautiful tonight..." His fingers trailed down the line of her throat.   
  
She drew in a breath and forced her eyes open. "The recruiter from...NC State. Will you find out tomorrow...at graduation?"  
  
Heero's knee touched hers. Without anymore waiting, he took her lips in a deep kiss. A little whimper escaped from her as she gave in and kissed him back. Heero's mouth was hot and familiar; she loved kissing him. She savored the feeling of his strong hand cupping her breast through her clothes.   
  
In the last few months of their senior year, she had progressed to letting him unbutton her blouse. Now as they kissed, his hand quickly slipped into her shirt and unfastened the hook of her bra with no small amount of dexterity.   
  
"Heero," she murmured. His touch was so wonderful. Forbidden and all-too sweet. In response, he dropped his kisses down to her neck, pushing the cups of her bra down until her breasts were bared to his hungry stare.   
  
This was new territory for both of them, charted only since the night of their senior prom. The pleasure she had felt that night when his lips teased her nipples was enough to squelch any protests from her conscience. She arched her back slightly as his mouth closed over one taut bud. "Oh god..."  
  
Heero carefully angled his body as he continued, to keep his hard flesh from being noticed. The few times she had felt him against her thigh had only startled her. All he wanted was for her to be comfortable and if that meant his own discomfort, so be it.   
  
Thirty minutes later, all that his efforts had done was raise both of their passions to a level of supreme frustration. Heero held Relena against his shoulder, running his fingers up and down her silky back. She turned her face into his neck, pressing her breasts into his chest. "I love you, Heero."  
  
He pressed his lips to her temple. "And I...adore you."  
  
There was a long pause. Relena swallowed. If there was ever a time for Heero to propose marriage, this would be it. She breathed in the clean scent of his after-game shower. It wasn't as though the idea was far-fetched. They had talked about the future when he would be a student at NC State on his baseball scholarship. She had even applied to the school herself, but once they were married, there would be no need for her attend classes. Everything was in line for them. All he had to do was ask.  
  
But the question never came. Heero pulled back and gave her a soft kiss as he tugged her bra back up her arms. "I think I'll get you home with a few minutes to spare."  
  
Relena attempted a smile as she fixed her clothes. "Millardo will be very happy. He's been really upset the last few times. Especially prom night."  
  
Heero resettled himself behind the wheel, ignoring his throbbing lap. When they were on the road again, heading for their street, he reached for her left hand. She looked down, then over at him, a pure smile back on her slightly swollen lips.   
  
Marriage would come. They had their whole lives.  
  
****  
  
TBC 


	2. Soldier Boy

Disclaimer: Standard. You know it by heart.  
  
Author's Notes: I hope you are still enjoying the story; thanks for reading;)  
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
"Soldier boy....oh, my little soldier boy...I'll be true to you." -The Shirelles  
  
****  
  
"To the class of 1965, congratulations." The valedictorian smiled down at his classmates from the podium. "May you have the knowledge and courage to change the world."   
  
Relena stood up with the rest of the class, clapping. At the signal, she grabbed the cap off her head, ignoring the carefully arranged bobby pins and tossed it into the air. Within a matter of minutes, she felt the towering presence of her older brother next to her on the gym floor. She turned around and embraced him.   
  
"Good work, Relena," Millardo Peacecraft kissed the top of his sister's head. "Mom and Dad would be so proud of you."   
  
She lifted her head from his shoulder. "Thank you." Wiping sudden tears from her eyes, she glanced past her brother. Only a few yards away, Heero stood, handsome as ever in his graduation robes, talking with his mother and a man in a dark suit. Relena bit her lip. The baseball recruiter from NC State, no doubt.   
  
Before she had time to dwell on it, she felt a small hand slip into hers. "I can't believe I actually graduated!" Hilde squealed.  
  
Relena gave her best friend a quick hug. "I knew you could do it if you set down your movie magazines for a moment and studied."   
  
"Hey, all that knowledge is going to be useful in California."  
  
"I'm going to miss you so much," Relena replied, her good mood taking a sudden plummet. "And I know someone else who will, too. Even more." She glanced over at the braided boy making his way through the crowd towards them.  
  
Hilde turned around in time to receive a huge, wet kiss right on the mouth from her boyfriend. When Duo pulled back, he winked at Relena. "Sorry, Princess. She just looked too damn cute."   
  
"It's really all right." Relena looked back towards Heero. He was shaking his head at something the man had said. "How long does it take to tell someone they're getting a scholarship?" There was no reply; Hilde and Duo were too caught up in each other.   
  
Ten minutes later, after they had been shuffled outside with the rest of the graduates and their families, Heero had yet to join them and Relena was getting worried. She was about to send Duo in for her boyfriend when he appeared from the gym with his mother.   
  
Relena approached them. "Mrs. Yuy," she greeted the older woman. There were curious tear stains on her gently wrinkled face.   
  
Heero's mother kissed her cheek. "Congratulations, Relena dear." Beth Yuy looked at her son. "Heero, I'm going to head home now. I expect you won't be too far behind? We still have a lot to discuss."   
  
"I won't, Mom. I just have to talk to Relena."   
  
She waited until Mrs. Yuy was out of earshot before Relena gave him a puzzled look. "Heero...what's going on? The scholarship..."  
  
Duo's voice cut her off as he and Hilde jogged over to the other couple. "Hail the conquering Heero!! So, it's a full ride, right? Tuition, housing, books, the works, right?!"  
  
Heero put his arm around Relena's waist and ignored his friend. "We're going for a drive. Alone."  
  
"But what about Peterson's party?" Duo demanded.  
  
But Heero was already leading Relena towards the parking lot. "Go without us."  
  
With raised eyebrows, Duo glanced down at his pretty girlfriend. "They're not going to...you know...are they?"  
  
"I doubt it." A mischievous smile spread on her pink painted lips. "But we could..."   
  
****  
  
Heero waited until he was parked in their usual spot before he spoke again. By that time, Relena was in a state of near panic. "Heero Yuy. You tell me what's going on before I..."  
  
He stopped her with a soft kiss. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."  
  
Hot tears tickled the backs of her eyes. "You didn't get it? Is that what's wrong?"  
  
"No." Heero gave her another kiss. "I got it."   
  
Relena let out a happy little cry. "Oh, Heero! I knew you would get it! It's going to be so..."  
  
"I turned it down, Relena."  
  
Her eyes moved back and forth, watching his steady Prussian blue gaze. "What?"  
  
"It's not a decision I came to lightly." He shifted in the seat to see her better. "The thing is...I think there's something better I can do with my life than playing baseball in college."  
  
Relena licked her lips as she gathered her thoughts. "All right, Heero. You have to do what you think is right for your life. But just what..."  
  
He took her hands. "This will probably come as a big shock. It was for my mother, at least." Heero paused. "Relena...this morning...I signed up. With the Marines."   
  
"You...you did..what?"  
  
"I've been considering it for awhile," he continued. "And last night I couldn't sleep at all, I was thinking about it so hard. When I woke up....I knew what I wanted to do. Just like that. And it feels good, Relena, it does."  
  
"Oh my god." She pressed a trembling hand to her mouth. "Heero...no....no, please...you can't." Her head shook back and forth.  
  
"Relena..." He gently grasped her shoulders. "Baby...please don't cry..."  
  
She lowered her head as tears slipped down her cheeks. "Why, Heero? I just don't understand....why you want to go to war."  
  
"There's no reason to believe I'd be sent to Vietnam, Relena." His strong hands massaged her bare arms. "I'll just go to boot camp and I'll probably be assigned to some domestic base. It's going to be okay...I promise."  
  
"You can't promise," Relena protested, jerking away from him. "You don't know! Heero, you listen to the news. They're sending more troops over every day, it seems. I don't want..." She broke into quiet sobs that tore at his heart. "I don't want to lose you."  
  
Heero folded her up into his arms. "You're not going to lose me. You'll never, ever lose me. But this is what I want, Relena. Just like my dad did...I want to serve my country."   
  
"It's just...you've never mentioned this before. It's always been college and baseball." Relena sniffed delicately. "Heero. Tell me something. Are you doing this...so we don't have to get married?"  
  
His reply was a long moment in coming. "There's just one person I could ever imagine marrying. Tomorrow or five years from now...you are the only woman for me."   
  
She tried to wipe away her tears with the back of her hand, but they were flowing too steadily. "When would you be leaving?"  
  
"That's the hard part." Heero looked up at the roof of his car, as though to hold back his own emotions. "I'd leave the day after tomorrow."   
  
"It's not enough time," she whispered after a painful minute of silence. "Heero...it's not enough time!" Her arms tightened around his neck; she stared at the inside of the car door, her chin resting on his shoulder. "Please...please don't go!!"  
  
"I'm sorry, baby," he told her, stroking her hair. "It's a done deal." He pulled back and lifted her chin for a kiss, but Relena turned her head to the side to avoid his lips. Instead, he kissed her cheek. "Nothing is going to happen to me, Relena. And just as soon as I know where I'll be after boot camp..." He took a deep breath. "I want you to marry me."  
  
Just before Relena broke down, she managed to reply with a simple, "Yes."  
  
****  
  
Relena woke up the day after her graduation with a splitting headache. She had spent most of the night after her talk with Heero crying. After Millardo's wake-up knock on her door, she lay in her four-poster bed for a long time. The sheets were tangled and damp with sweat from the nightmares that had plagued her in the few minutes of sleep she had garnered.   
  
Outside her window, a bird chirped. Just another reminder her life might have screeched to a halt, but the rest of the world was still revolving. She considered banging on the glass until the offending bird went away, ultimately deciding against it. The noise would alert Millardo, and the last thing she wanted was to hear how Heero Yuy going to war could be a good thing for her.   
  
She turned over on her side to stare at her nightstand. There was an envelope lying on top of the lace that she hadn't noticed when she had gotten into bed. Of course, the Beatles could have been playing in her room and she wouldn't have cared. Wiping her eyes, Relena reached for the piece of mail.   
  
It was addressed to her, a rare enough thing for mail coming to the Peacecraft House. But what made her sit up in bed was the return address. North Carolina State University Admissions Department.   
  
Relena blinked several times. With a steady hand, she carefully opened her letter and unfolded the cream-colored paper within. Taking a breath, she read out loud, as though the action would make the words more real. "Dear Miss Peacecraft. Congratulations...out of this year's female applicants, you have been selected for admission to North Carolina State for the fall term of 1965..." Her voice trailed off as she took in the news.  
  
She had been accepted to college. And she was mostly engaged. Only two days earlier, she would have sent the letter back with a nice note of decline. But now...Relena re-read it with even more focus. The very idea that she could now go to college just for herself, not to be close to Heero...it appealed to her. And for awhile, she had been convinced that nothing would appeal to her ever again.  
  
Her tongue darted out to wet her dry lips. She felt like a newborn kitten, making its first steps away from its mother. Shaky, uncertain, but determined. Pushing the covers off her legs, she jumped out of bed, letter in hand.   
  
"Millardo!" Relena ran down the stairs in her nightgown. "Millardo...guess what?!"  
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	3. Fortunate Son

Disclaimer: You know the drill.  
  
Author's Notes: Hang in with the story, it's gonna get rocky.  
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
"Yeh, some folks inherit star-spangled eyes. Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord. And when you ask them, how much should we give? Oh, they only answer, more, more, more..." -John Fogerty  
  
****  
  
They spent the last day driving around the town, doing the little things they had always taken for granted. Sipping a milkshake at the diner, feeding the ducks at the pond, holding hands. It never ceased to amaze Relena how much comfort she took from the simple feeling of Heero's fingers threaded through her own.   
  
Several times during the day, she tried to bring up her decision to go on to college without him, but every time she closed her mouth before the words could come out. It wasn't that she was afraid to tell Heero; he had done nothing but support her since they were eight years old. In some roundabout way, she was afraid to vocalize the words. She hadn't even told her brother that she was planning to attend, only that she had been accepted. Stating her intention in plain terms was a daunting task for a girl who only the day before would have been perfectly happy raising Heero's children for the rest of her life.  
  
Duo and Hilde met up with them at the town's little movie theatre that night. They had apparently been doing almost the same sort of reminiscing as Heero and Relena....although Duo's shirt was buttoned up wrong and Hilde had only a trace of red lipstick left on her mouth.   
  
After the movie, they stopped back at their diner for one last dinner together. After the waitress delivered their burgers and fries, Heero broke the news about the scholarship and the Marines.   
  
Duo choked on his pickle. "You did what?!" He glanced at Relena; her lower lip threatened to tremble. "Why, man?"  
  
"It's something I feel a duty to do," Heero replied, crumpling the paper from his straw.   
  
Hilde shook her head. "Wow. This is kinda...square of you, Heero." She met her best friend's eyes. "But you're okay with it, Relena?"  
  
"It's not my decision." Relena's voice was calm, but low. "It's Heero's."  
  
Duo whistled under his breath. "He's in the Army now...Heero Yuy." He paused. "Do you get a gun? 'Cause that would be far out."  
  
"Far out?" Relena repeated.   
  
Heero set his drink down with a decisive smack. "Why don't you join up and find out, Duo?"  
  
"No fucking way, man." Duo pulled his braid over his shoulder, protectively. "They'd make me get rid of my baby..."  
  
"I thought I was your baby." Hilde winked at him.   
  
"No, you're my babe," Duo corrected her. "And you're leaving me. My braid will never..."  
  
"I'm going to college." Relena's abrupt revelation brought a halt to the conversation. "I got accepted at NC State," she continued a second later.  
  
Duo broke into a wide smile. "I knew you were the brains of the operation, princess."  
  
"Congratulations!" Hilde clapped her hands together.   
  
Heero turned his head to look at his girlfriend better. "Are you sure about this, Relena?"  
  
She nodded. "I got the letter this morning. It's just...you're not going now...and we can't get married right away. So, if I don't go, I'll just be sitting around on my hands until you get back from..."  
  
"You don't have to justify anything to me." Heero cupped her cheek in his hand. "I'm proud of you."  
  
Relena's shoulders relaxed. "At least I'll have something to put in the letters I plan to send to you every day."  
  
Heero lifted an eyebrow. "A letter a day?"  
  
"He'll be the luckiest little boy in boot camp!" Duo snickered.   
  
Hilde gave him a solid pinch before asking, "When do you leave, Heero?"  
  
"Tomorrow."   
  
She glanced back at forth between the couple. "And you're sitting here, wasting time with us? You should be out...doing stuff. Together."   
  
The insinuation brought a blush to Relena's cheeks and an embarrassed glare to Heero's brow. But, he did start to slide out of the booth. "I should get Relena home."  
  
"Yes, you should." Duo eased out as well and reached for Heero's hand. "Take it easy in boot camp, man."  
  
Heero moved Duo away from the girls as they shook hands. "Do something for me while I'm gone. Look out for Relena." He glanced at her, hugging Hilde. "She's the best thing in my life."  
  
"Oh, man!!" Duo pushed at Heero's shoulder. "Why did you have to go and do that?!"  
  
"Do what?  
  
"Say something that stupid! Now it's just about guaranteed that something is going to happen to you! And I'll be looking after Relena because you're dead! And then we'll probably fall in love and..."  
  
"Hey!" Heero's tone was sharp and deadly. "Knock that thought of your head right now, Maxwell. Nothing is going to happen to me in boot camp. And if you ever lay a single finger on Relena..."  
  
Duo held up his hands. "I was just saying..."  
  
"Don't say. Don't even think." After a second, Heero let himself relax. "Now, will you look after her?"  
  
With a sigh, Duo nodded. "Yeah. I will, man."  
  
"What are you two discussing so intently over here?" Hilde asked, sauntering over to them. When neither boy replied, she rolled her eyes. "I suppose my Hollywood adventure has been overshadowed by the United States Army, but considering that I'm leaving right after you, Heero, you'd better hug me now and get the goodbye out of the way."  
  
Relena watched Hilde pull her boyfriend into a brief, resistant hug. She smothered a smile when Heero caught her eye. Clearing her throat, she walked over to them. "C'mon, Heero. I need to get home."  
  
The inflection in her tone told him that home was the last thing on Relena's mind. "Yeah. I mean, yes, you do." He pulled away from Hilde and looked her and Duo for a minute. "I just want you both to know. High school was tolerable...because of you all."   
  
Duo put a hand to his chest. "That, ladies and gentlemen, was the most beautiful..."  
  
"Can it, Duo." Relena reached for her boyfriend's hand.  
  
"You got it, princess."  
  
As Heero and Relena walked away, hand in hand, Hilde pulled Duo back into the booth. "I think...maybe tonight."   
  
"Maybe tonight what?" He reached for a handful of fries.   
  
Hilde lifted a slender shoulder and picked up her burger. "Him leaving for boot camp, her leaving for college...if they don't do it..." She took a small bite. "She can officially apply for sainthood."  
  
****  
  
"Heero..." Relena's eyelids fluttered as Heero nuzzled the soft, exposed flesh over her collarbone. His fingers tugged at her bra strap. "I'm going to miss you so much."  
  
He nodded into her neck as the strap popped open. Within seconds, his lips found her breasts. There couldn't be anything softer in the world, he decided. The thought that he wouldn't be able to touch her for months was almost enough to make him reconsider the Marines. Heero pulled her closer to his body, wanting to touch as much of her as he could.  
  
The sudden action pushed his aching length against her inner thigh. Though separated by layers of clothing, Relena froze. Heero looked up from between her breasts. "I'm sorry, Relena." He started to pull back.   
  
Without allowing herself time to think, Relena shook her head. "No. No, I want to...to feel you, Heero. All of you."  
  
"Are you sure?" His tongue traced a pattern around her nipple. She whimpered her agreement and within seconds, he was pressing into her again. But now, she was not afraid. Fueled by the knowledge that the next night, he would be several states away, Relena slid her hands down from their usual place on his upper back to his waist. She could feel his muscles through his shirt and had the itching desire to feel them through bare skin.   
  
Heero responded by pushing her blouse off her arms and throwing it to the car floor, followed by her lacy bra. Bare to the waist, Relena shivered, but was instantly warmed by Heero's arms wrapping around her. Completely on their own, her hands began pulling at his shirt until she could slip her hands underneath it.   
  
His skin was hot and smooth. The muscles she had wanted to feel rippled just below the surface. Heero's mouth on her breast grew more insistent. Relena's back arched with pleasure. Every motion brought his hardness closer to the cleft between her thighs.   
  
When her nails lightly scratched his back, Heero let out a low groan. This was the furthest they had ever been. Anymore and he was afraid he'd never be able to stop.   
  
"Relena..."   
  
"I know." Her hands pushed him until into a sitting position. She lay, half naked, awkwardly pressed into the corner of the seat, and stared up at him. Her blonde hair was mussed; her headband had slipped off during their heavy kissing. "We have to stop," she whispered.   
  
He gently pulled her up. "Unless...you don't want to?"  
  
Relena lowered her eyes. Even in the dim light from the moon though the fogged windows, she could make out the shape of his erection through his pants. "It feels too good to be right, Heero. And if we don't do it now, we'll have something to look forward to..."  
  
"When we get married," he finished.   
  
She sniffed suddenly. "It's hard for me, too, Heero. You're leaving and we'll be apart for so long." Her eyes filled with tears. "What if you forget me?"   
  
"It'll never happen." Heero was firm.   
  
Relena watched his deep blue eyes for a moment. "I believe you." A long moment passed between them. "Come back home to me, Heero. I'll be waiting for you."   
  
He stroked a finger down her bare breast and took her lips in thorough kiss. "You'll be with me every day."   
  
Despite her best efforts, Relena's tears fell, hot and fast. "I love you so much."  
  
Heero lowered his mouth to hers, tasting the salt of her sorrow on her lips. He didn't need to echo the sentiment. She had not doubted his love since the day they met.  
  
****  
  
They both agreed that it would be too hard to say goodbye at the train station in public. So, they said their goodbyes on the front lawn of Relena's house that night. Heero held Relena to his chest for what seemed like years, but yet, wasn't long enough. Finally, he gave her one last, sweet kiss and watched her walk up the steps to her house. She turned around on the top step and looked back at him.   
  
It was the image of her that Heero would carry with him through boot camp. Hair tousled, lips red, skin flushed, eyes sad, but sparkling, blowing him a little kiss.   
  
So, it was Duo who ended up driving his best friend to the train station, to see him off on his journey. And to his great dismay, he was back at the train station a week later, only this time with his beloved Hilde...and all of her luggage.   
  
Once her things had been taken onto the train, she turned to him. "Duo, I..."  
  
He lifted a finger to cover her lips. "It's okay, babe. I think I get it now. This is something you have to do."  
  
She nodded. "I won't be happy if I don't try. Even if I never get a part in a movie ever....I have to try."  
  
Duo moved his hand across her face to run his fingers through her short curls. "You'll make it. You're a star, Hilde. You're my star..."  
  
The touch sent a shiver down her spine; he could always turn her knees to jelly. From their first kiss to their last lovemaking in Duo's bed only an hour earlier...her body had been his long before she gave him her heart.  
  
"You know I love you. Right?"  
  
He smiled. "Good to know. Since I've always been crazy about you." There was a pause. "I always will be. So, if you get bored out there in California..."  
  
"I know." Hilde stood up on her toes to give him a thorough kiss. "And you can always come out to see me, too."  
  
The train whistle blew before he could reply. Clearing his throat, Duo took a step back. "Better go now or it'll leave without you."  
  
Hilde glanced over his shoulder at the train. She had been able to hold in all of her tears up until that point. Seeing the train and the pained look in Duo's eyes, she lost her battle. "I'm going to miss you," she sobbed.  
  
He pulled her against his shoulder, fighting his own tears. "You had better," he whispered in a choked voice. "I'll never be out of your life, I swear."  
  
"All aboard!!"   
  
The loud call broke the moment. Duo rubbed at his eyes and picked up Hilde's carry-on bag. Handing it to her, he attempted a characteristic wink. "Knock 'em dead out there, babe."  
  
She nodded. "I will." With one last, soft kiss, she took the bag and started for the train. Duo watched her disappear for a moment, then reappear as she settled into a window seat. She lifted her hand to wave at him as the train jerked forward. He waved back, walking with the train. As it picked up speed, he began to jog to keep Hilde in sight. When he couldn't keep up anymore, she pressed her lips against the glass.   
  
Duo slowed back down as she moved out of his sight. He stood in the station for a long time after the train became a little black spot down the long track. She was gone. And he was alone.   
  
He drove back into town without so much as the radio on to keep him company. As he turned onto Main Street, he caught a glimpse of a slender figure, walking along the sidewalk. Duo leaned out of the car to see better. It was Relena.   
  
"Princess!" he called to her, pulling over to the side.   
  
She turned around and squinted in the morning sunlight. "Duo?"   
  
"Can I give you a ride somewhere?"  
  
Dark shadows colored the pale skin under her eyes. But she managed a sad smile. "Thank you. That would be nice."  
  
****  
  
TBC 


	4. Please Mr. Postman

Disclaimer: Characters don't belong to me. Plot does;)  
  
Author's Notes: I'm sorry not many people are getting into this story. But for the people who are (Christin), I'm going to keep posting;) Thanks for reading, sweetie!!!  
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
"There must be some word today, from my boyfriend so far away. Please Mr. Postman, look and see, if there's a letter, a letter for me." -The Carpenters  
  
****  
  
July 4, 1965  
  
My dear Heero,  
  
The summer is hot, but nothing is more unbearable than not having you here with me. I feel as though two huge pieces of my heart were ripped out when you and Hilde left. Every night, I sit on the porch and watch your front lawn. I'm not sure what I'm watching for; I know you won't be coming up the walk. Still, I sit there every night, usually after coming back from visiting your mother. She's fine, as I'm sure you've gathered from her letters, although she's likely the only person in the world who misses and worries about you more than me.  
  
I hope this letter finds you in good spirits, and that boot camp isn't taking too much of a toll on you. I'm certain it can't be easy, but you're strong, Heero. You always have been. And I know that you can conquer anything you put your mind to. That's one of the things I love most about you.   
  
As I write this letter, Duo is off helping prepare the fireworks for the town display. How are you spending your Independence Day, Heero? I'd like to think they're letting you relax, seeing as how you now represent the interest of the very freedom we're celebrating. From what your last letter led me to believe, you deserve a day off. Has the food gotten any better? I want to send you some of my brownies, but I've been told they wouldn't be allowed in your barracks. When you come home for break, expect a lot of them.  
  
When will that be, Heero? Next month, I leave for school. Although it's only fifty miles away from Peacecraft, NC State might as well be on another planet if you're at home and I'm not. Please give me enough warning so I can get home to you when you arrive on break. I can't wait to feel your arms around me again, and sometimes I ache wanting your kisses so badly.   
  
Lately, I lie awake in bed at night after waking from a dream that we made love that night before you left, and I have to wonder why I held back. I can't make any promises in a letter, but I want you to keep this in mind whenever you're feeling like you can't go on. I love you. And when you come home, I'm going to show you just how much.   
  
Please write to me again soon. I cherish every word of every letter.  
  
All my love, Relena  
  
PS: Duo says hello and that he's keeping his promise, whatever that is.  
  
****  
  
August 28, 1965  
  
Dear Relena,  
  
I'm sorry that I haven't been able to write in the past two weeks. They've hardly given us time to sleep and eat, much less write home. Things should ease up next week after survival training is over. As it is, I'm writing this after lights-out, something that could easily get me a week of KP, if not for the help of my bunkmate. His name is Wufei Chang and he's from New York City. I can't say he's the most friendly person here, but we get along all right. And we especially work well during training and exercises, although now we're running neck to neck over who will break the obstacle course time record. It stands at three minutes, fifteen seconds. Right now, I can do it in three, thirty.   
  
I hope the army talk isn't boring you. More than that, I hope this letter has reached you at all. This is the address you gave me for your dorm room, but I have this horrible thought that perhaps your roommate is reading it or something. You haven't mentioned her much so far. Do you not get along? That would be hard on you, I know. Because I know my girl...she likes to get along with everyone.  
  
In the last letter I sent you, I didn't respond to the questions you had about the night before I left, mostly because I couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't make you blush. Damn, what I wouldn't give right now to see you blush. But now that I've had time to think about it (usually when I'm cleaning a gun or some other really inappropriate moment) I know what to say. I love you, too, Relena. And if you're ready, I will take care of you and make it wonderful.   
  
All right, I had better wrap this up before midnight rounds. Do well in school. Know that I am thinking about you always.   
  
Yours, Heero  
  
PS: No word on a possible break yet. I will tell you as soon as I know anything.  
  
****  
  
August 29, 1965  
  
Dearest Duo,  
  
If you though North Carolina was sweltering, you haven't experienced a California summer. It's muggy and hot and all I ever wear is my new bikini. Well, except when I'm going to a casting call. Unless it's the kind of casting call where they want to see us in our bikinis. Anyways, I love it. And the only thing missing is your fingers, pinching my behind.   
  
I don't really have a lot of time to write, but I just wanted to say hi and that I miss you. I'm off to a screen test in a little while. It's for a cold cream commercial. I think I just might get it; the casting man said he liked the look of my face. Isn't that so far out?!   
  
Tell Relena I said hi. Just remember, no matter what Heero told you, she is capable of taking care of herself. She's a modern, college girl, and she doesn't need a bodyguard. Even if it's one who is as sexy as you.   
  
Hugs, kisses and more kisses, Hilde  
  
****  
  
October 11, 1965  
  
Dear Heero,  
  
I'm not sure who is in charge of pairing up roommates at this school, but they ought to be fired. Dorothy is the most insufferable person imaginable. First of all, she has grown her hair practically down to her knees which means that our carpet, which should be dark grey, is now whiter than that kitten Millardo wouldn't let me keep when we were ten. A sick thought, yes, but she doesn't seem to notice. In fact, she complains when I brush my hair "too much."   
  
Secondly, she's a right-wing Republican, and she's not afraid to show it. She's even said that President Kennedy's assassination was one of the best things that could have happened to our country. Can you believe that?! The only time I've ever seen her smile was when I told her my boyfriend was in the Army. She believes in America's military dominance, and that if we don't cut Communism out of every area of the world, we're not living up to our role as the world's leading country. I wouldn't be surprised if she spits on the campus war protesters.  
  
I could go on for pages, Heero, honestly. As soon as this term is over, I'm requesting a roommate transfer. I certainly hope things are better for you with your bunkmate. He sounds a bit serious from what your letters have said. Perhaps we should get him together with Dorothy. I'm kidding; I wouldn't inflict my roommate upon Castro himself.  
  
I love you and miss you in equal amounts. I want to see you, soon. Please tell me you'll be home for Christmas at least.   
  
All my love, Relena  
  
****  
  
October 13, 1965  
  
Hilde-baby,  
  
It's been over a month since your last letter. I hope the four I sent to you in the meantime got there. I guess you're pretty busy, which hopefully means you got that cold cream thing. I can't wait to see your face in a magazine or maybe even on TV.   
  
I love you, Hilde. And I miss you. No girl in the world makes me feel like you; I haven't even bothered with any of them, I swear. But I need to hear from you. Please, write to me soon. Even if it's just a sentence or so. Anything is better than nothing at all.  
  
Love, Duo  
  
****  
  
November 1, 1965  
  
Dear Relena,  
  
I'm coming home for Christmas. I'll arrive in Peacecraft on the 23rd of December. Wear your hair down to the train station, if you can. I want to feel it, inhale it, wrap myself in it. We will make love for the whole twelve days.  
  
Yours, Heero  
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	5. Volunteers of America

Disclaimer: Same old, same old.   
  
Author's Notes: Thanks for the reviews;) I even appreciate the ones that bet money on how the story is going to go, cause at least you care enough to try to figure it out. But I try very hard to keep my readers on their toes; I trust my beta-reader to tell me if I'm getting predictable and so far, her lips have been sealed. I hope yall continue to enjoy!  
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
"This generation got no destination to hold, pick up the cry. Now it's time for you and me, got a revolution, got to revolution...we are volunteers of America." -Jefferson Airplane  
  
****  
  
November, 1965  
  
North Carolina State University  
  
"Do you have any questions, Relena?"  
  
After thinking for a moment, Relena shook her head and gave the student health center nurse a weak smile. "I can't think of any. Beyond keeping my roommate from seeing them."  
  
The older woman chuckled as she handed her a circular object. "I'll give you an instruction sheet in case you need it, but really, it's fairly simple. One a day, two the next day if you miss a dose. By the time your next period comes, if you've been taking them properly, they should be in effect."  
  
Relena nodded as she accepted it. "That's good." She paused. "I think."  
  
"Remember, Relena. Even if you are protected, if you don't feel ready for intimacy, don't do it. Your body...your life."   
  
Still nodding, Relena opened the pink plastic compact and examined the rows of tiny, white pills. "My body, my life." She closed it up with a loud snap. "I won't forget."  
  
Twenty minutes later, as she walked back across the campus grounds towards her dorm, the little brown bag in her hand the only sign of her trip to the health center, Relena contemplated the consequences of what she had just done. She had put herself on the new Pill. But had she done it for herself, for her life, her body, or for Heero's life, his body...his needs?  
  
Suddenly, the bag in her hand felt heavier than lead. She stopped in the middle of the quad and looked down at the cold, browning grass beneath her loafers. Her heart rate sped up as she tossed the same thoughts over and over in her mind. Saving her virginity until she and Heero were married...or making love with him as soon as he got home. It was a choice that was going to end up torturing her...if she let it.   
  
A frigid fall wind swept over her, compelling her to keep walking for warmth. Unfortunately, her eyes failed to lift from the ground until she ran into something solid.  
  
Relena looked up, shocked and embarrassed. "Oh! I'm so sorry. I wasn't..."   
  
A pair of sparkling aquamarine eyes looked back at her. "It's all right. I wasn't really paying attention either."  
  
She blinked. The man she had bumped into was easily the most handsome man she had seen so far on campus. His blond hair was brilliant against the grey sky and when he smiled, even his teeth shone. "I was just...it's getting colder...and I was rushing..." Relena closed her mouth, to prevent further babbling.  
  
The man, who she determined to be at least a sophomore, nodded. "It is getting colder." There was a moment's pause. "I'm sorry; I don't know where my manners are. I'm Quatre Winner."   
  
Relena awkwardly took the hand he offered her. "Relena Peacecraft."   
  
"Freshman, right?"  
  
"Is it that obvious?"  
  
Quatre laughed. "No. It's just that I was sure I'd met every beautiful woman on campus. So, you must be fairly new."  
  
A blush colored Relena's cheeks. "Thank you."  
  
Another pause followed. "This might sound incredibly forward..." Quatre finally began. "But what are you doing tomorrow?"  
  
Relena's throat closed up. "Um...nothing. But I'm not...I mean, I have a...he's not here, but I do have..."  
  
"A group I belong to is having a meeting tomorrow afternoon in the Music Hall. I was just wondering if you'd be interested." Quatre reached into his bag for a flier. "Here."  
  
She gave the paper a quick once-over. "SDS?"  
  
"Students for a Democratic Society," he answered. "I'm sort of in charge of our chapter."  
  
"What do you all do?"  
  
"Well..." Quatre zipped up his bag. "We get together and discuss ways to enlighten America." He smiled at the puzzled look on her face. "About the war in Vietnam."  
  
Relena looked back down at the paper. "You're against it?"  
  
"Very definitely," Quatre replied. "Our government is sending American soldiers to Southeast Asia to fight a civil war that has nothing to do with us. But that's only a cover for what's really going on."  
  
"What's really going on?"  
  
Quatre pointed to the flier. "Come tomorrow and find out."  
  
"I don't know..." Relena folded up the paper. "My boyfriend...he's at boot camp right now..."  
  
"Ah, then you owe it to him to find out the truth. He's certainly not going to get it from his superiors. And by the time he figures it out on his own...it might be too late." The wind blew Relena's hair around her face. "Just think about it." Quatre took a step back. "I hope to see you there. If not...it was lovely to meet you, Relena."  
  
She looked up. "You, too. Quatre."  
  
He smiled over his shoulder as he walked off, towards the Political Science building. Relena tucked the flier into the pocket of her sweater. SDS. It sounded intriguing. And any information on Heero's potential future was worth finding out. She looked back down at the bag in her hand. Now if only she could figure out the rest of her life.  
  
****  
  
December, 1965  
  
Quincy, Oklahoma  
  
"Attention!" Heero looked out at the blank faces of the newly arrived enlisted Marines. Lifting his chin, he nodded firmly. "Dismissed!"  
  
The fatigue-clad men in front of him relaxed with a great wave of enthusiasm. Heero let some of the tension out of his own shoulders. His recent promotion to Corporal, the highest rank for an enlisted Marine in training, had been hard-earned, but was even harder to carry out. Being in charge of the entire barracks...it was a responsibility he had never expected.  
  
He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned around to see the other barracks Corporal, his friend Wufei. The Asian-American man crossed his arms over his uniform. "So, you're out of here tomorrow?"  
  
"For two weeks," Heero replied. "It's about damn time."  
  
"Going home for a white Christmas."  
  
Heero started towards the barracks. "That's the idea."  
  
"With Relena."  
  
"Okay." Heero stopped and turned on Wufei. "Just what are you getting at, Chang?"  
  
"You haven't seen her in what...nearly eight months?"  
  
Heero grimaced. "Believe me, I know. But what's your point?"  
  
"She's been at school, learning big things." Wufei's lip curled up. "Women in college....it'll go to her head, man. She'll start thinking she knows more than you, just because she..."  
  
"You don't know Relena," Heero cut his friend off. "First of all, she didn't need college to be smarter than me. Secondly, she's nothing like the women you seem to despise so much. She isn't like anyone, actually. Got it?"  
  
Wufei rolled his eyes skyward. "If you say so."  
  
Heero resumed his course with Wufei only a step behind him, but he was soon stopped by his superior officer, Major Roberts. "Corporal Yuy?"  
  
He froze and saluted; Wufei followed suit. "Sir, yes sir!" Heero barked.  
  
"At ease, Corporal." The older man reached into the breast pocket of his uniform coat. "Your assignment came in this morning." He handed a white envelope to Heero. "Good luck."  
  
"Thank you, sir." Heero took the envelope and saluted again, relaxing only when the Major moved on. He took a deep breath. "I wonder what it is."  
  
"Why don't you open it and find out?" Wufei re-folded his arms. "I got mine yesterday."  
  
"And?"   
  
"Vietnam," Wufei replied, nonchalantly. "I ship out in January."  
  
Heero tapped the envelope against his palm. "I'm sorry, man."  
  
"I'm not. Vietnam is where the action is. It's where we can do the most good." Wufei backed up. "Think about it. Did you really go through eight months of this place just to sit in a comfy, domestic base while the men you trained with and helped train are across the world, giving their lives and serving the cause? Think about it while you're relaxing with your woman, Yuy. Think about it."  
  
****  
  
Peacecraft  
  
"Where is it, Duo?!" Relena rocked up onto the balls of her feet and peered down the empty train track. "I can't believe it's late!! Heero's train, of all trains. Late!!"  
  
Duo stamped his feet on the ground for warmth. "Don't ask me, princess. I'm just here to drive."  
  
She bit her lip and looked back at him. "I'm sorry. You've been so wonderful and I'm just being...annoying."  
  
"Nah, you're fine. I can't blame you for getting excited. If it were Hilde coming home..." He stopped, suddenly way too interested in brushing snow out of his bangs.   
  
Relena spoke softly. "You're sure she won't be coming home for Christmas?"  
  
Duo lifted his shoulders. "I wouldn't know. I haven't heard from her since August."  
  
"I'm so sorry, Duo."  
  
He forced a huge smile onto his face. "I'm fine, princess. I promise." A loud whistle cracked the cold air around them. "Well, looks like they're here."  
  
The twenty minutes it took for the train to pull into the station and the passengers begin to step onto the station platform was nearly unbearable for Relena. Finally, just as she was about to start pulling out her hair, a pair of familiar Prussian blue eyes met hers through the thick crowd.   
  
Neither of them spoke as they waded through the people, stopping inches away from each other. A moment later, when Heero had dropped his duffel bag and gathered her up in his arms, every one of Relena's doubts melted. She buried her face in Heero's neck, sobbing and in between sobs, breathing in his wonderful scent.   
  
"Heero...you're here." Relena kissed his neck; his skin was so warm. "I've missed you...so much. But you're here now."  
  
Her hair smelled like roses. The scent had haunted his dreams for eight months. He held onto her, rocking her gently back and forth, taking comfort in her body pressed against his. "Relena..." Heero pulled back and took her lips.   
  
Duo let them kiss for a few minutes until his hands began to go numb from the cold, despite his gloves. "Hey you two. It's a nice show and all, but there's a little old man down there watching you and it's kind of creepy."  
  
They broke their kiss, Heero giving Duo a hard look. It quickly cleared up and he reached for his old friend's hand. Duo shook it with a smile. "Good to have you back, Yuy."  
  
Heero returned his attention to Relena. "It's good to be back." He kissed her again, this time ignoring Duo completely when he tried to distract them.   
  
As she re-familiarized herself with the wonderful warmth and sweetness of Heero's mouth, Relena was suddenly very glad she had been taking the Pill exactly as it had been prescribed to her.   
  
****  
  
Hollywood, California  
  
"So, where exactly are we going again?" Hilde glanced into the rearview mirror of her new friend and temporary housemate, Mindy Valletta's, car as she applied a second coat of pink lipstick.   
  
"It's a Christmas party," the platinum blonde replied as she drove. "The guy throwing it knows a guy who works on the Paramount lot."  
  
Hilde rolled the tube of lipstick back down. "You're shitting me."   
  
"Nope." Mindy fluffed her hair with one hand. "And I hear there's going to be some amazing stuff there."   
  
"I don't know, Min. The last time I tried those kind of party favors, I couldn't think straight for two days. And I'm going to this casting call the day after Christmas..."  
  
Mindy rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Hilde. It's a party! It won't be any fun if you insist on being a party-pooper."  
  
Hilde laughed. "All right. We'll see."  
  
Nodding, Mindy pulled into a wide driveway. "Here we are." She turned off the engine and twisted the mirror to see herself. "How do I look?"  
  
"About as fabulous as I do," Hilde replied. "And that's saying a lot."  
  
Mindy opened her car door and grabbed her hand bag. "You and me, Hilde. We make one fucking sexy duo."  
  
A moment passed before Hilde climbed out of the car. Duo. She swallowed, suddenly feeling anything but in the mood for a party. The feeling passed when Mindy grabbed her hand, dragging her towards the Hollywood Hills house. She plastered a smile onto her face as they sauntered through the front door.   
  
"Ladies and gentlemen," Hilde announced to the crowded front hall, dropping her coat on the floor and revealing her short, silver mini-skirt and go-go boots. "The party can now get started!"  
  
****  
  
December 24, 1965  
  
"Relena..." Millardo wiped his mouth on a linen napkin and set it down onto the festively dressed dining room table. "What's wrong with your dinner?"  
  
His little sister set down her fork. "Nothing. I'm not particularly hungry, that's all."  
  
"You need to eat."  
  
"Millardo, I'm a grown woman in college. It's no longer necessary for you to make sure I eat all my green beans."  
  
He smiled sadly. "You're right. I'm sorry." There was a pause. "But you are fidgeting."  
  
Relena sighed. "I wanted to have Christmas Eve dinner with Heero."  
  
"I'm sure his mother appreciates having this time with him, Relena. You'll see him all day tomorrow."   
  
She bit her lip. Little did Millardo know, she planned to see Heero much sooner than that. "I suppose."  
  
Her brother stood up and reached for her half-full plate. "Are you sure you won't come to Midnight Mass?"  
  
"No, thank you. It's been an emotional few days. I need to get some sleep." She snuck a peek at Millardo as he walked into the kitchen. "Won't you be going with that woman you've mentioned so much in your letters?"  
  
"Lucrezia?" In the kitchen, her brother cleared his throat. "Yes. Why?"  
  
"I don't know. She sounded nice. Where did you meet her again?"  
  
"She teaches at the high school. I'm on the education board." Millardo came back into the dining room for another handful of dishes. "And she is nice."  
  
Relena smiled and sipped her water. "Good. You need nice in your life."  
  
"All right, enough about me." Millardo wiped his hands on a dish towel before handing it to her. "Can you clean up the rest of this? I have to go pick up Lucrezia."  
  
"Of course." Relena stood up and kissed her brother's cheek. "I can't wait to meet her."  
  
She waited only fifteen minutes after Millardo left the house to don her coat, mittens, hat and scarf. After carefully locking up, she crossed the frosty grass to Heero's house. He was already waiting for her by his car, his breath visible in the air around his handsome face.  
  
Relena shivered, but it wasn't the temperature. This was it. By the end of the evening, she and Heero would be lovers in every sense of the word. He opened the car door for her and she slid inside. When he joined her a moment later, they sat in the driveway for a minute.   
  
"Where are we going?" Relena asked, trying to keep her teeth from chattering.   
  
"I...um..." He ran a hand through his hair. "I asked Duo to rent us a room...at a hotel. Is that all right?"  
  
She nodded. "I'm glad. The car is too cold to..."  
  
"I'd never make love to you like that, Relena." He took her hand, rubbing it through the wool of her mitten. "So...should we go?"  
  
"Yes." Relena smiled at him. "I've been thinking about this night for a long time. And I'm ready." As she spoke the words, she realized they were true. "I'm ready."  
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	6. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

Disclaimer: Characters not mine. 'Nuff said.  
  
Author's Notes: Thanks for your kind words;) I'm glad you're enjoying the story and I hope you continue to do so.  
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
"Tonight you're mine, completely. You give me your love, so sweetly. Tonight the light of love is in your eyes. But will you love me tomorrow?" -The Shirelles  
  
****  
  
Peacecraft  
December 28, 1965  
  
His lazy fingers slid up and down the length of her bare arm, sending little shivers of residual pleasure through her body. Relena closed her eyes and snuggled closer to Heero's sculpted chest. His skin was warm and sweat-slick beneath her cheek. She kissed his exposed nipple, rousing him from an impending sleep. "Heero," she whispered.   
  
"Yeah?"   
  
Through the dark of the motel room, Relena stared at the abandoned pile of clothes on the chair across from the bed. "Why was it different tonight?"  
  
He kissed the top of her tangled crown of hair. "I suppose your body is finally used to it. I'm really sorry it hasn't been good for you until now, baby."  
  
"It wasn't horrible, Heero." Relena propped herself up on one elbow to look down at him. "I mean, after the first time, at least. But even that first time...I still loved being with you." She pressed her swollen lips to his. "I love you."  
  
"Mmm..." He let himself be kissed, too sated and relaxed to do much else. "But it was good tonight, right?"  
  
Relena nodded. "Good doesn't begin to describe it."   
  
Heero smiled in self-satisfaction. "And we still have a week together."   
  
She laid back against his chest. "Millardo's starting to get a little suspicious." A giggle escaped her. "Oh well."  
  
Minutes passed in comfortable, intimate silence. When Relena spoke again, her voice was soft, but serious. "What happens after the week is up, Heero?" He opened his eyes, but said nothing. "Heero?"  
  
"I've been putting off telling you." He sighed deeply, his chest rising and falling under Relena's head. "I got my assignment right before I left the barracks."  
  
Relena swallowed and flattened her palm against his pectoral muscle. "Where are they sending you?"   
  
After a long time, Heero replied, "Relena...they're sending me to Vietnam."  
  
****  
  
Hollywood  
  
"Oh...god..." Hilde opened her eyes and was immediately blinded by the brightness of the sun coming through a plate glass window. Her head pounded with the weight of a thousand hammers; her mouth felt fuzzy with a horrible after-taste of something she couldn't remember ingesting.  
  
She lifted her head from the rumpled and stained sheets of the bed she was sprawled on. Her body was covered with an Indian print blanket, but she was definitely naked.   
  
As was the strange man lying next to her.   
  
Hilde rolled over, groaning. Her whole body ached. She tried to think back to the night before. There had been a party with Mindy, that she was fairly sure of. A post-Christmas, pre-New Year's Eve blast, thrown by the woman who supposedly did Patty Duke's hair. Just one in an endless stream of parties.   
  
Only at this one, she hadn't passed up on any of the party favors that came her way. And now, as she thought more about it, she hadn't said no to this man in the bed when he had suggested they party in private.   
  
Her inner thighs were sticky, a sure sign that she had gone too far. She tried to sit up, but her head throbbed too much. Suddenly, Hilde began to cry.   
  
"Oh god..." she sobbed into the sour bedding. "God...I want..." Hilde hiccupped through her sobs. "No," she told herself. "You don't need anyone. Just a shower..." She sniffed. "And some coffee. You'll be fine."   
  
She turned her head, settling her gaze on the rotary phone. His phone number played through the hangover haze around her brain. "Duo...help me..."  
  
But she didn't pick up the receiver, didn't dial. Couldn't reach out and touch him.   
  
****  
  
Peacecraft  
December 31, 1965  
  
"Heero...I have given this a lot of thought over the past few days. I've cried, I've screamed. I've gotten mad at you, mad at myself, mad at the President. But none of it has done me any good." Relena took a breath. "The fact of the matter is, I don't want you to go."  
  
Her boyfriend gripped the steering wheel of his car. This was the beginning of a conversation he had hoped he wouldn't have to have with her. "It's really out of my control, Relena."  
  
"Is it?" Relena turned her head from watching the dark road to look at him as he drove towards the motel. "Why is it?"  
  
"Because...I signed up with the Army. If I don't do what they ask, I'll be labeled a deserter. I could be court-martialed, Relena. Is that what you want?"  
  
She shook her head. "You know the answer to that, so why even ask? I'm just saying...damn it, Heero. It's Vietnam!! Soldiers are dying over there!"  
  
Heero blinked as he pulled into the motel parking lot. "You cursed, Relena."  
  
"Well, I'm mad!! And I'm fully capable of cursing when I'm mad!!"  
  
Shaking his head, Heero turned off the engine. "I'll be right back."   
  
She waited, tapping her foot with great impatience, until he came back with the key to a room. They drove in silence around the building. Heero opened her door for her a few minutes later and led her into the room he had rented. Once inside, Relena turned on him. "Do you want to go, Heero?"  
  
"I want to do my duty." Heero shrugged out of his coat. "I don't want to shirk away from the mission I've been given."  
  
Relena unwound the scarf around her neck. "I just don't understand. Why you? I mean, you said that you'd just be assigned to a domestic base! What happened to that?"  
  
"It's out of my control, Relena!" He stripped off his shirt. "And it was a risk I accepted when I signed up!"  
  
She pulled her blouse over her head, ignoring the buttons. "Do you have any idea what you've signed up for then?!"  
  
Heero paused in unzipping his pants. "What do you mean by that?"  
  
"Do you know that you'll just be fighting someone else's civil war?" Relena let her skirt pool around her feet, fervently hoping that Heero wouldn't press her for any more information than the little she had. Suddenly, she wished she had gone to one of Quatre Winner's meetings.   
  
"Look, I'm just a soldier. I don't have the luxury of asking questions," Heero snapped, tossing his pants aside.   
  
Relena put her hands on her hips. "You have to ask questions, Heero! You're not a pawn for them to carelessly use! Open your eyes and see what's really..."  
  
He grabbed her, hauling her body against his and cutting off her diatribe with a deep kiss. "I don't want to fight with you," he growled softly into her ear.   
  
Her knees almost gave underneath her. The raw sex in his tone erased any deep thought in her mind. All she needed at that moment was his body on her, in her, around her. She got her wish minutes later, after Heero had removed the last pieces of their clothing. He gently pushed her back onto the bed and laid his body onto hers.   
  
When they came together, Relena wrapped her arms and legs around him, letting him take her away from the reality where he would be leaving her again, this time for a war. She held onto him as they moved in complete sync, driving each other closer to white-hot pleasure. Relena reached the heights first; she cried out his name as she came.   
  
By the time Heero released himself deep within her, tears were rolling down her cheeks in a steady stream. He lifted himself up to see her face. "Relena...please don't cry...shhh..." He dropped soft kisses onto her wet eyelids.  
  
"I can't help it..." She pushed on his shoulders until he slipped out of her and rolled to one side. "Heero, you have no idea...what they're making you do..."  
  
He plunged his fingers into his very short, but sweaty bangs. "And you do?"  
  
"I've heard things." Relena blinked the residual tears away. "I try to keep informed of what's going on in the world."  
  
"And you think you have it all figured out?" Heero sat up. "I can't believe this....not from you, Relena."  
  
"Heero, I'm just saying...I don't want you to go over there, thinking you'll be doing all these great things for our country...when it has nothing to do with our country!!"  
  
He looked down at her, the face he had loved for most of his life. For a moment, he wasn't even sure if he was talking to the same girl. "Relena, just because you've had a semester of college does not mean you know more than the United States Army."  
  
"I never said that I did, Heero!" Relena sat up to see him better. "When did I say that?"  
  
"You didn't have to. It was all there in your voice." Shaking his head, Heero swung his legs off the bed. "Wufei was right. You have changed..."  
  
She flinched; his words physically hurt her. "I've changed?"  
  
"Remember that time when we supported each other in everything?" He reached for his shorts and pulled them on. "It was only eight months ago, so I know you haven't forgotten. Do you think you could give me some of that support now, Relena? I could really use it."  
  
Her eyes narrowed. "I'm supposed to support you because you've chosen to put yourself in the hands of a government who's sending American men off to die across the world for a cause that has nothing to do with us?!"  
  
"No, Relena. You're supposed to support me because we love each other! We're lovers. Someday, we'll be married. Doesn't that matter to you, or do you only care about all the politics you think I'm too stupid to understand for myself?"  
  
Relena slowly pulled her knees up to her chest. "I never said..."  
  
"Just forget it, okay?" He glanced at his wrist watch. "It's almost midnight."  
  
"A new year." She rested her chin on her knee. "But in this one...you might die, Heero."  
  
"Yeah. I might."   
  
She looked up. "Doesn't that bother you?"  
  
"I have no control over it."  
  
A long, painful pause followed. Somewhere in the midst of it, the clock turned and the new year was upon them. But neither noticed or cared. "I can't do this," Relena finally said. Her head swayed from side to side, long strands of tangled hair brushing her upper back. "I can't...spend another eight months holding my breath..."  
  
"And you shouldn't have to," he said quietly. "So...what are we saying here?"  
  
"I don't know," she whispered. "Just...please, Heero. Don't go...stay with me..."  
  
Heero plucked his pants off the floor. "You're not getting it at all, are you?"  
  
"Heero..."   
  
"Get dressed, Relena. I'll get you home before Millardo even notices you were gone."  
  
They pulled on their clothes in complete silence and left the motel room. The drive back to town also passed without a word, until Heero pulled up into his mother's driveway. Relena's house was dark, a good indication that Millardo was still at the country club's party with his date.   
  
Heero looked down at his lap. "I ship out in the middle of the month. So, we have until then to figure out...us. If there even is an 'us' anymore."  
  
"I want there to be."   
  
"But only if I desert the Army."  
  
She sniffed. "You make it sound so dramatic. All I want is for you not to die!"  
  
Heero shook his head. "There's nothing you can say to change this, Relena."   
  
"Then...I guess there isn't anything else for me to say at all." She opened the car door and climbed out.  
  
"Relena..."  
  
"I love you, Heero. Don't forget that." The car door slammed and Heero watched through the glass as Relena across the lawn towards her house. His fingers curled up as he brought his fist down onto the dashboard.   
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	7. I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die

Disclaimer: Standard. You know.  
  
Author's Notes: Thanks for your continued support. I'm glad you like the story!  
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
"And it's one, two, three...what are we fighting for? Don't ask me; I don't give a damn. Next stop is Vietnam. Five, six, seven, open up the Pearly Gates...there ain't no time to wonder why. Whoopie! We're all gonna die." -Country Joe and the Fish  
  
****  
  
January 3, 1966  
  
"Relena..." Millardo rapped gently on his sister's door. "Relena, are you up?"  
  
Her voice was dull, but came through clearly. "Yes. Why?"  
  
"Um...you have a visitor."   
  
"I don't feel like seeing anyone, Millardo."  
  
The visitor in question cleared his throat. "Hey...it's me, princess."  
  
After a pause, Relena replied, "Come in, Duo."  
  
He let himself into Relena's room, giving Millardo a weak smile. Relena sat across the room on her bay window seat, arms curled around an oversized throw pillow, staring through the lace curtains. "Can you close the door?"  
  
Duo did as she asked. An awkward moment slipped by before he started to speak. "Princess, I gotta tell you something."   
  
"All right."   
  
He blinked. She was too calm, too subdued. It was almost frightening. Taking a breath, he continued. "This morning, princess...Heero...he left this morning."  
  
"I know." Relena parted the lace with her hand. "I watched you pick him up from his house."   
  
Duo shook his head, to straighten out the new information. "You didn't come down...to say goodbye?"  
  
"I didn't think he wanted me to. Leaving in the middle of the night and all." She finally turned her head to look at him. "He didn't even glance over here, Duo. I watched until I couldn't see your car anymore...and he never once looked back."   
  
"Princess...I'm sorry."  
  
Relena leaned back against the floral print wallpaper. "It's all right. He did what he had to do." She wiped her eyes. "I'm so tired of crying, Duo."  
  
"Yeah..." Duo sat on the edge of her bed. "I know the feeling."  
  
"Life goes on. Or something like that."  
  
He nodded. "Sure."  
  
"Duo...why didn't you apply to college?"  
  
The leap in subject was great, but it was a question he had asked himself many times. His shoulders lifted. "I didn't think I'd get in."  
  
"If you don't mind me saying so, I think you sold yourself short." Relena gave him a weak smile. "It's not too late you know."  
  
"Thanks, princess." Duo scratched the back of his head. "I guess I could go down to that fancy college of yours and at least dig around for some information."  
  
She stood up and moved to sit down next to him. "Good. And I'll help as much as I can."   
  
Duo took her hand. "I'd say Heero doesn't know what he left behind...but he does. Princess...you gotta know that the last thing Heero wanted was to hurt..."  
  
Relena cut him off. "It's all right, Duo. Can we just...not talk about it anymore? Please?"  
  
"Yeah." He stood up. "Get ready to go out. I bet you haven't been sledding since...um...last Christmas."  
  
She smiled, and this time, it was genuine. "Sounds fabulous."   
  
Duo stood up and started for the door. "I'll see you downstairs."  
  
"Duo!" Relena walked back to him and pressed a kiss against his cheek. "Thank you."  
  
He winked for the first time in months. "Anytime, princess."  
  
****  
  
Okinawa  
January 30, 1966  
  
"Welcome to Japan, boys!"   
  
With his duffel bag slung over his back and army-green hat pulled down low on his forehead, Heero walked down the platform from the Navy carrier ship that had taken him and his platoon across the Pacific Ocean. He stepped onto the American base, but it was really on Japanese land that he now trod. His father's father had been Japanese, he had even been held in an American concentration camp during World War II.   
  
Save for the minimal amount of the language he had picked up before his grandfather died, he was far more American than Japanese. But after several weeks at sea, Okinawa was the closest thing to home that Heero was going to find for a very long time.   
  
Wufei was several steps ahead of him. "Hurry up, Yuy."   
  
Ignoring his friend, Heero continued at his own pace. The feeling of solid ground beneath his feet was a luxury he would never again take for granted. Besides, he had no reason to hurry. They would get two days of rest in Okinawa before the huge choppers would carry them across the Sea of Japan and deposit them into the middle of a raging war zone.   
  
"I need to find a place to mail a letter," he told Wufei when he finally caught up to the other soldier.   
  
"It's going to cost a lot to get something to America." Wufei folded his arms. "It's for Relena?" Heero's lack of response indicated that it was. "Why didn't you just give it to her before you left?"  
  
"I don't know," Heero replied, shortly. "But I need to get it to her."   
  
Wufei glanced around. "Well, I guess you could mail it through the base, but they'll read it to check for security leaks, you realize."   
  
"Then I'll send it by Japanese mail." Heero stopped the first non-Army personnel who passed by them. "Sumimasen. Posuto wa doko desu ka?" The Japanese man, clearly intimidated by Heero's uniform, pointed further down the street they were walking along. "Arigatou."  
  
Wufei lifted an eyebrow. "Wonderful. Now you can keep up contact with Relena. Happy day."   
  
"I wouldn't call it keeping in contact." Heero started walking towards the post office. "It's just something that has to be done."  
  
****  
  
North Carolina State University  
  
"So...are you planning on going to class today at all?"   
  
Relena rolled over on her bed and gave her roommate a withering look. "Why do you ask, Dorothy?"  
  
The other girl tossed a long strand of bleach-blonde hair over her shoulder and pursed her lips. "I merely ask because it's threatening to snow and I can't find my umbrella. I was hoping if you were going to be lazy and not go out, that I might be able to..."  
  
"Take it." Relena gestured to her closet. "I don't need an umbrella today. Just a hot pad."  
  
Dorothy shook her head as she reached through Relena's clothes. "Please don't turn into one of those insane women who lie around for five days every month, whining about cramps."  
  
Relena let the comment slide. She was so relieved to have her period at all, she had little motivation to argue with her roommate because of it. "Have a nice day, Dorothy."  
  
With an extreme flounce of her hair, Dorothy left the room with Relena's umbrella. Once she was gone, Relena quickly sat up. She shouldn't be skipping Western Civ class, she told herself. But it was necessary. The SDS had a meeting scheduled during the lecture period that she was determined to attend. For Heero.   
  
In lieu of an umbrella, she pulled the lined hood of her winter coat over her head when she set out from her dorm. It only took a few minutes to cross the wintery campus to the philosophy building where the meeting was being held.   
  
There were several dozen people already there when she entered the hall. Removing her mittens, Relena took a seat towards the back. After only a minute, Quatre Winner walked to the podium at the front of the room.   
  
"All right, everyone. We'll go ahead and get started." He smiled at his audience. "I'm Quatre, the president of this chapter of SDS. Those of you who don't want to make waves...I think the Young Republicans are meeting down the hall." There was light laughter. "Seriously though, we're here today to discuss things we, the students of NC State, can do to help stop the war in Vietnam. And if you're not on board with that, you should probably get out now."   
  
His gaze, which had been roaming the crowd during his opening speech, now settled onto Relena. She blinked as she realized this. Quatre nodded his head, a motion meant only for her. "What some of you might not realize...and some of you might, unfortunately, realize all too well...is that our President is in the middle of deploying thousands of our soldiers to Southeast Asia."   
  
Relena broke the eye contact they had been sharing. There was a dull ache in her chest as the memories of her last moments with Heero flooded over her.   
  
Quatre cleared his throat. "So, you might be saying, what the hell can we do to stop it? And believe me...I'm open for suggestions. After my esteemed colleague....or partner in crime depending on how you look at it....David Reyes, of the PolySci department gives you some of his extensive knowledge, we'll be doing some brainstorming. I hope you all stick around for it." His gaze shifted back to Relena. "We can change the world, people."  
  
Much later, after the long talk about America's policy towards Communism and after the open discussion on the possibility of a student protest on the front lawn of the Dean's house, Relena joined the stampede of students towards the coffee that had been thoughtfully provided.   
  
She was just adding a liberal amount of sugar and cream to her cup when she felt someone come up behind her. "I was hoping you'd make it one of these times, Relena."  
  
It was only by sheer luck that she managed to turn around and not spill coffee while doing so. Quatre smiled at her, his blond hair falling over one eye. She blushed unwittingly and took a tiny sip before replying, "You remember my name?"  
  
"Only a truly foolish man would forget a woman as lovely as you." There were people pushing at either side of them; Quatre gently took her arm and led her to an open area. "So, what did you think about the meeting?"  
  
"I learned a lot," she replied, honestly. "And I agree with so much of what was said." Relena took another sip. "My boyfriend is in Vietnam now."  
  
"I'm very sorry, Relena."  
  
She nodded. "It's just good to know that I can do something to bring him home."  
  
"Relena..." Quatre took her coffee and set it down on a nearby table before taking her hands in his. "I won't lie to you. The plans we have, the things we can do....not all of them will be well-received. We're not doing anything illegal, but there's always a chance of being arrested or detained. There have already been protests where the police have injured students. Are you sure you want to be a part of this?"  
  
She didn't have to contemplate this. "Heero is in the middle of the jungle, and he's in danger every minute of every day. I hardly think anything that could happen to me in trying to keep him alive could even compare to what he has to live through right now."  
  
Quatre smiled sadly. "You obviously love him very much." Relena looked down at the tiled floor. "He's a lucky guy, this Heero of yours."  
  
"I miss him," she whispered.  
  
"I understand." His fingers brushed her cheek. "And I respect that. But since I'm not lying...I want you to know....I'm very attracted to you."   
  
Relena's eyes lifted to stare into his. Before she could even fully comprehend his words, much less think of a reply, the sound of hands clapping together broke the moment.   
  
"All right, everyone! Get back here and let's decide about the protest!" Quatre's colleague called out to the room of mingling students.  
  
Quatre took a step back. "We can talk about this when you're ready. And if you're never ready, that's all right, too. I'll see you later, Relena."  
  
Relena sank into a chair as Quatre started up the meeting again, but her mind was nowhere near NC State. Her thoughts were entirely on the other side of the planet, with the man she loved more than anyone else. To whatever god existed above, she offered up a simple prayer.   
  
*Keep him safe.*  
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	8. I Am A Rock

Disclaimer: Nothing but the plotline belongs to me.  
  
Author's Notes: Thanks for keeping on with the story. It makes me very happy that people are enjoying it;)  
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
"Don't talk of love, but I've heard the words before; it's sleeping in my memory. I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died. If I never loved, I never would have cried. I am a rock. I am an island." -Simon and Garfunkel  
  
****  
  
Peacecraft  
April 1966  
  
"So, you don't have a listing for a Hilde Schbeiker anywhere in Hollywood?" Duo looked down at the pad of paper sitting next to the phone. "What about Beverly Hills? Or...um...I don't know. What else is out there? Oh, I see. No listings means no listings. Got it. Thanks for your help. Bye."   
  
He set the grease-smudged receiver back into the cradle just before his boss entered the office. "Maxwell, there's a lady out there waiting for service."   
  
Duo took a moment to tuck his braid into his coveralls before heading out to the front of the gas station. As he approached the brand new convertible, the woman seated behind the wheel pulled off her straw hat and sunglasses. "Duo!!"  
  
"Relena?" He ran around to the side of the car to greet his friend. "What the hell are you doing in town so early?"  
  
"I didn't have to take my history final and Quatre had enough people for the teach-in, so I left a few days early." She held out her arms for a hug.   
  
He gave her a quick one, but his attention was on the car she was driving. "Nice wheels, princess. Very nice. Yours?"  
  
"A late birthday present from my brother. He's tired of having to drive me back and forth from school." Relena gave him a smile. "It's really good to see you again, Duo. Have you heard from..." She closed her mouth. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have..."  
  
"Don't sweat it, princess. No, I haven't heard from Hilde. She's sort of...dropped off the face of the planet." Duo glanced up at the blue sky. "But what really gets me down is that I haven't even seen her on TV. And I've actually bought issues of *Seventeen* magazine, looking for her picture. Nothing."  
  
Relena shifted on the leather seat. "Well, it's a tough business to break into. She's probably just so busy...you know."  
  
"Too busy to remember me, at least."   
  
"Duo..."  
  
He shook his head and patted the shiny hood. "No down thoughts today. Do you need this baby filled up?"   
  
"Actually, no. I just wanted to see you." She smiled. "Hope I'm not keeping you from work."  
  
"Work? What's that?" Duo winked. "Oh! I can't believe I almost forgot to tell you!!"  
  
"Tell me what?" She licked her lips. "It looks to be...good news?"  
  
Duo nodded emphatically and pulled a worn envelope out of his coveralls. "Guess who's just been asked to join the academics at North Carolina State University?"  
  
"Oh my god!!" Relena leaned over the car door to throw her arms around him. "Congratulations, Duo! I knew you could do it!!"  
  
He laughed as he returned the embrace. "It's only because you told me I could, princess. Trust me."  
  
"No, it was all you." She pulled back. "Oh, this is going to be so wonderful! There's so many classes that I know are going to really interest you. And the SDS...Duo, you've just got to join the SDS! Quatre's always in need of passionate people to help out and if anyone's passionate, it's..."  
  
Duo arched an eyebrow. "And just who is this Quatre that you've now mentioned twice?"  
  
"A friend," Relena replied, far too quickly. "He runs this amazing organization on campus Students for a Democratic Society."  
  
He nodded. "Have you told Heero about your new friend Quatre?"  
  
Some of the color left Relena's cheeks. "I haven't spoken to Heero since New Year's Eve, Duo."  
  
"No letters? Nothing??" Duo blinked. "Oh, Relena....take it from someone who can't contact the one person he wants to. Losing touch hurts. Really bad. And with all that Heero's going through over there..."  
  
"He's written you?"   
  
Duo hesitated. "Just once. Right after he arrived in Saigon. He said he had sent you a letter when he was in Okinawa. To your house here, not to the dorm. You never got it?"   
  
Relena gritted her teeth. "No. But then, my brother has a very unique take on protecting me." She started the engine. "Can you leave work and come with me? I'll need help cleaning his blood off the walls."  
  
The braided man laughed as he unzipped his coveralls to save her seats from grease stains. In his jeans and white undershirt, he jumped into the car. "Friends help you hide. Real friends help you hide bodies."  
  
****  
  
Hollywood  
  
"I really appreciate this, Sarah."  
  
"It's no problem, Hilde." The older blond girl tucked a white cotton sheet around the cushions of her couch. "You can stay here for as long as it takes, I promise."  
  
Hilde crossed her too-thin arms across her stomach. "I just can't believe I let myself...get in so far." Tears welled up in her eyes. "But when I woke up with those two guys on either side of me..." She stopped, not needing to elaborate.  
  
"You're very lucky that you caught yourself, Hilde." Sarah held a pillow under her chin as she slipped a cover onto it. "Most girls I meet on the casting circle don't get out in time. It's really sad....but that's the glamorous Hollywood life."   
  
The bitterness of sarcasm didn't escape Hilde. "I'm learning that." She sighed. "So much for being the next Marilyn."   
  
"Hey, look how she ended up," Sarah pointed out. "You can only be you, Hilde. All the party favors in the world aren't going to make you any more than what you are. Only less."  
  
Hilde nodded. "Thanks. I really appreciate...you know."  
  
"You're welcome." Sarah plopped the pillows down onto the couch. "Now, you take a nap. I bet you haven't had good sleep in months." She started out the door towards the kitchen. "I'll be at this audition until at least seven, so if you get hungry, just raid the fridge. Bye, wish me luck!"  
  
"Thank you," Hilde called out as her friend left with a parting wave. "Break a leg!"  
  
Once the little house was quiet, Hilde settled her emaciated body onto the couch. Sleep, proper food...Duo...she hadn't let herself have any of them in more than just a few months. As usual, the image of Duo created sharp guilt in the center of her chest. Her usual course of action to rid the pain was a hit of something really good.   
  
She shook her head. Not this time. It was time to stop covering up her problems. Time to deal with them. With a shaky hand, Hilde reached for the rotary phone. It was four in the afternoon on the east coast; Duo would be at work.   
  
"Long distance operator, please."   
  
In only a few minutes, a phone across the country rang. She swallowed when Duo's boss picked up.   
  
"Howard's Garage."  
  
Hilde licked her dry lips. "Hi. Um...is Duo there?"  
  
"Nope. He skipped out 'bout half an hour ago with some chick." The man snorted. "You wanna leave a message for him?"  
  
A thread of pain wove its way around her heart, squeezing all too tightly. "No. No message. Thanks."   
  
She held the heavy receiver to her ear for long time after Duo's boss had hung up. The numbness in her body went unnoticed, ignored just as she had ignored Duo. It wasn't his fault that he had moved on; it would have been beyond selfish of her to expect him to still be faithful to her. She certainly hadn't held up that ideal on her side.   
  
But hearing it so plainly, so officially...she fell asleep with the phone in her hand, tears drying on her cheeks.   
  
****  
  
Lo Ke, South Vietnam  
  
"I think it's beans again." Clutching his metal tray, Wufei shook his head and softly swore. "What I wouldn't give for a bowl of rice. We're surrounded by a million fucking acres of rice fields and all we ever have are beans."  
  
Heero nodded, but could think of no reply. Beans might have been the staple of their diet since they had touched down in Saigon, but they at least made up a hot meal. And after the air attack on Lo Ke a month earlier, Heero was grateful to be alive to eat anything at all.   
  
The dinner line lurched forward, pressing Heero along with it. He was grateful for the distraction; his thoughts need not linger on the last major battle. They had lost a good portion of their platoon before the AF boys had managed to kick back at the Vietcong. Heero shook his head to clear it. He was alive, unscathed. And it was beans he smelled now. Not the burning flesh of his friends.  
  
Having reached the head of the line, Wufei reluctantly held out his tray for his dinner. But the man behind the table in charge of serving suddenly folded his meaty arms and gave Wufei a hard stare.  
  
Wufei scowled. "Planning on serving anytime soon, pal?"  
  
"I don't serve people with slant-eyes," the man spat. "I shoot 'em out in the jungle."   
  
Heero managed to grab Wufei in time to keep him from lunging at the other man. "Hey!" he told the server. "He's one of us. Just give him his dinner and we'll forget the whole thing."  
  
"Maybe he's one of you. I see a little slant in your eyes, too." He looked at the patch on Heero's uniform. "Yuy. Kind of a Chinkish name, isn't it? Yuy and Chang."  
  
Wufei struggled against Heero's arms, although Heero wasn't quite sure why he was still holding his friend back. The other soldier was simply asking to be hit. "Look below the name, asshole." Heero's eyes narrowed. "It says 'US Army,' just like yours."   
  
"Kind of a sad day when the greatest army in the world has to resort to letting in yellow-faced..." The man didn't get to continue; just then, his back arched in pain as his arms were twisted around behind him.   
  
Another soldier became visible around the server's bulk. "Is there a problem here?" the man asked. "The line's being held up." The dark-haired man released the server. "Are you giving these guys shit, Fetzer, because you can't even spell 'Red China'?"  
  
The server grabbed his arms, rubbing them. "Fuck off! I don't have to..." The new soldier landed a direct punch to the fat man's nose. He stumbled and fell, landing face down in the mud.   
  
Heero let go of Wufei. "And my name is Japanese, you piece of shit," he told the man's unconscious body. "Not Chinese."   
  
"Not that there's anything wrong with being Chinese." Wufei spit on the ground next to the server's face. He glared at the man who taken out Fetzer. "We could have taken him, you know."  
  
"I'm sure you could have." The new guy picked up where the fallen soldier had taken off and filled Heero and Wufei's trays. "I'm Trowa Barton. And you're welcome, by the way. " At Wufei's insistence, Heero moved on towards the tables with his dinner.  
  
It wasn't until much later that night that Heero saw Trowa Barton again. It wasn't his shift to patrol the camp, but Heero was up anyways, seated just outside the makeshift barracks, smoking a cigarette and staring at the tiny picture he carried with him always.   
  
He sensed someone coming and was immediately on guard. One could never be too careful. "Who is it?" he called out.  
  
"Barton." The man appeared in the dim light from the moon. "You have another one of those, man?" He pointed to Heero's cigarette.  
  
"No, I don't really smoke them." He handed what was left of it to Trowa. "I just needed something to do with my hands."  
  
Trowa took a long drag. "Yeah, I know that feeling." Sitting down a few feet away from Heero, Trowa used the cigarette to gesture to Heero's picture. "Girlfriend or wife?"  
  
"Fiancee." Heero licked the corner of his mouth, still tasting the tang of tobacco. "I think."  
  
Taking the picture without asking, Trowa nodded. "Pretty."  
  
"Beautiful," Heero corrected him. He tucked the picture back into his pocket. "Relena."  
  
Trowa exhaled a lungful of smoke. "They're what keeps a man going. Mine's Catherine."  
  
"How does she feel about all of this?"  
  
Shrugging, Trowa extinguished the cigarette on the ground. "She wasn't crazy about it; what woman would be? But now I get a letter a day and that seems to keep her happy."  
  
Heero slapped at a huge mosquito. "Good for you."  
  
"Relena's not a letter-writer?"   
  
He cleared his throat. "Neither of us are right now."   
  
Trowa stood up and brushed off the back of his uniform. "At least she's not sending you a 'Dear John,' man. Take it easy."  
  
Heero pulled the picture back out after Trowa had left. Relena with another man. His muscles grew taut with anger at the mere idea. Suddenly, he remembered the letter he had sent to her from Okinawa. His eyes closed in sheer agony. If she had read it and listened to it...he would have no one to blame but himself if she wound up in another man's arms.  
  
****  
  
Peacecraft  
  
Duo plucked a grape out of the fruit bowl that sat in the kitchen of Relena's house. Chewing thoughtfully, he stared at the cheery wallpaper, printed with various herbs and vegetables. Just one of the many leftover signs of Relena and Millardo's parents. Duo hadn't known Relena all that well when her parents died, but he understood how the crash that had claimed them had affected her. His parents, while still alive, might as well have been dead to him for most of his childhood for all the attention they had paid to him.   
  
At that moment, as he helped himself to more fruit, Relena was upstairs with Heero's letter, discovered only after a thorough search of her brother's study. Duo had left her alone to read it. From the little he had gathered from Heero's letter to him, whatever was in Relena's was not going to make her very happy.   
  
He considered heading back upstairs to see if she needed moral support, but as he made a move towards the living room, she appeared in the kitchen from the hallway. She stopped and looked up from the floor to meet his worried eyes.   
  
Her pretty features were heavy; even her flower-print blouse and jeans seemed to hang on her body. The letter in her hand fluttered to the ground as her knees gave out from under her.   
  
"Princess!" Duo ran and caught her before she could go down. "Princess...what is it? What did he say?"  
  
Relena shook her head, unable to form words. Her forehead came to rest against Duo's shoulder as his arms encircled her slender body. As she began to cry, Duo gingerly reached for the abandoned letter, his curiosity too great to be ignored. Plus, he reasoned, how could he help Relena unless he knew what was upsetting her?  
  
Heero's handwriting was small and neat. Precise. Calculated. Duo gently rubbed Relena's back as he began to read.   
  
*Dear Relena,  
  
By the time you read this letter, I will be on my way to California. From there, Vietnam is waiting for me. I know you don't agree or approve, but I never asked for either of those things from you. All I wanted was your support. I'm trying very hard to understand why you couldn't give it to me.   
  
You have always been a step above me, Relena, and I've valued your opinions above anyone else's. But this time, I believe you're wrong. You might think you know what's going on in the world, but I'm living it. I'm not reading about it in textbooks. Give me some credit for that, and for being able to make choices for myself and my life.   
  
You told me, during our last night together, that I might die this year. If I do, I will die having loved and been loved, and that's more than any man can ask for. I won't ask you to mourn for me if it should happen. I'm a soldier. Soldiers die. All I ask is that you go on with your life without me, even if I survive. I'm only one man, Relena. I've never had anything to give you but myself and I can't even give that anymore. Find someone else who can give you more.   
  
Yours, Heero*  
  
"It's over," Relena whispered into the crook of Duo's neck. "It's all over."   
  
Duo simply continued to hold her on the kitchen floor of her childhood home. There wasn't anything else he could do.  
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	9. Don't You Want Somebody to Love?

Disclaimer: Standard.  
  
Author's Notes: Thanks for everything;)   
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
"When the truth is found to be lies, and all the joy within you dies, don't you want somebody to love, don't you need somebody to love, wouldn't you love somebody to love, you better find somebody to love." -Jefferson Airplane   
  
****  
  
One year later  
  
Washington D.C.  
October 1967  
  
"Oh my god..." Relena stuck her head out of the chartered bus window. Her waist-long blond hair flew around in the strong, cool wind, only held in check by the little braids that wound a crown around her head. "I have never seen so many people in my entire life!!"  
  
Laughing, Quatre pulled her back into her seat. "I told you everyone who's anyone was going to be here."  
  
Across the aisle, Duo winked at his best friend. "The social event of the war, princess."  
  
Relena's eyes shone with sheer excitement. "I know it's been on the board for months, but I had no idea it was going to be so big..." She raised her hand and formed a peace sign. "NC State to Washington!!"  
  
The cry was echoed throughout the jam-packed bus. Quatre put his arm around Relena, kissing her forehead. "You never cease to amaze me," he whispered.   
  
She swallowed, managing only a weak smile in return. Her eyes darted over to Duo, but he was caught up in a conversation with a pretty junior History major, and for once wasn't paying attention.   
  
Ever since Duo had moved to campus and joined the SDS, he had made it perfectly clear that he was wary of Quatre Winner, especially his motives towards Relena. Often, he took on a chaperone's role, bailing Relena out whenever he felt Quatre was getting too close.   
  
But lately, Quatre was becoming more blatant. He wanted her and he was no longer even trying to hide it. Relena's stomach churned. Quatre was smart, talented, a great friend and an amazing leader. They believed in the same things; she would be lying if she said she didn't find him physically attractive. But...  
  
*Heero.*  
  
Relena's eyes closed. The mere thought of him had the power to sneak up on her and render her completely speechless. And once he was in her head, there was no escaping the memories. Holding hands on the playground, sipping sodas at the diner...his lips on hers in a chaste kiss, his hand on her breast, his body on top of hers as they made love...   
  
She ached for him still.   
  
"Oh...we're here!" Relena announced as the bus slowed to a stop. Subtly taking Quatre's hand, she unwound his arm from her shoulders. "Come on! We don't want to miss a minute!"  
  
Quatre chuckled as she climbed over him. "If the rest of bourgeouise America had half the energy and conviction as Relena, every soldier would be on his way home," he told Duo.  
  
The braided man nodded. "That's one of the reasons she and Heero are so good for each other. They both have conviction."  
  
"I'm sure," Quatre replied evenly. He smiled at Duo. "Can you oversee the tent situation? I don't trust the English majors to have any idea how to set one up."  
  
"I'm on it." Winking, Duo shuffled off the bus and stepped down into the crowds of people, vans, buses and caravans gathered in the wide open space surrounding D.C.'s Mall. He came up behind Relena; she was standing still, staring at the towering presence of the Washington Monument.   
  
Duo put a hand to his eyes to shield the late-day sun. "I've always thought the Monument looked like a huge..."  
  
Relena turned her head, laughing. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." She played with the end of one of the braids that hung over her shoulder. "Duo...about Quatre..." With a sigh, she stopped.  
  
"What is it, princess?"   
  
She released the thin braid. "What am I going to do about him?"  
  
"I think..." Duo reached for her hand. "You need to do whatever that huge heart of yours tells you is right."  
  
Relena lowered her gaze to the pavement. "I can't do that, Duo. It wants something I can't have."  
  
"Ah, princess..." He pulled her against his side, squeezing her shoulder. "Why don't you write to him? Fix all of this? After so long..."  
  
"It's exactly because it's been so long that I can't." Relena looked up at her best friend's handsome face. "He's moved on by now."  
  
Duo shook his head. "He hasn't moved anywhere, princess."   
  
A good ways away, Quatre was instructing a group of freshmen in how exactly to place NC State's banners around their campsite. Relena watched him for a long second. The dying sunlight turned his blond hair gold; his smile was so warm that she could feel it despite the distance between them.   
  
"Maybe I have."  
  
****  
  
Hollywood  
  
"Are you there, Miss Schbeiker?"  
  
"Um..." Hilde put a hand to her forehead and tightened her grip on the heavy phone. "Yes, I'm here. Could you just....could you repeat what you just said...please?"  
  
The man on the other end laughed. "I said you made it in, Miss Schbeiker. Welcome to the U.S.O!"   
  
Hilde shook her head. What the man was saying was practically incomprehensible. The audition had just been a fluke, something to do on a rainy day. A little bit of dancing, some meager singing...nothing like the acting-intense casting calls she had gone to and failed for the past two years. Yet this time, she had made it. She, Hilde Schbeiker, was being asked to join the U.S.O.   
  
"I...don't know what to say..."  
  
"You don't have to say anything. Just show up at the studio on Monday morning, ready to work." The casting agent paused. "This is the part where I ask you....are you sure you understand what you're agreeing to do, Miss Schbeiker?"  
  
She licked her lips. "I'll be...in a show. For the soldiers in Vietnam. With Bob Hope..."  
  
"Well...it's a little more involved than that. You're not just taping a show, Miss Schbeiker. You'll be performing it live. In Vietnam."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"That's what the U.S.O. does, Miss Schbeiker. Provide entertainment for the soldiers serving overseas. We've been a proud, American tradition since World War Two, and our performances have included some of the biggest names in entertainment, including Marilyn..."  
  
Hilde let him continue to speak, only half listening. She was going to Vietnam. It was a little too much to take in right away.   
  
"...and then after the month of rehearsals, we'll be flying the whole company to Saigon. The Christmas show is the biggest deal for our boys, Miss Schbeiker. We only hire performers of the highest quality, because our troops deserve the best. Don't you agree?"  
  
She swallowed. "Of course."   
  
"Good. Well then, we'll see you first thing on Monday?"  
  
"I'll be there," Hilde replied. "And thank you. Thank you so much."  
  
"You'll do just fine." With a click, the casting agent hung up. As soon as the line was dead, Hilde stood up in her tiny, dingy apartment and let out a cry of pure joy. She had a job, a real, highly respected job. She was going to travel with this job. True, she'd be traveling to a war zone, but at least she was going somewhere. And for a long time, Hilde had been convinced she was going absolutely nowhere.  
  
****  
  
Washington D.C.  
  
"See, there's a right way and a wrong way to handle one of these. I'm gonna show you the right way." Duo struck a match on a rock. Cupping his hand around the freshly rolled joint between his lips, he lit the end and blew out a puff of smoke. "First...the inhale. It has to be slow, but steady. Like this."  
  
There was laughter from the other NC State protesters, gathered around the bonfire. Relena shook her head in amusement as she watched Duo's show. Once the joint was lit, Duo held it between the very tips of his thumb and forefinger and took a deep drag, his cheeks sucking inward with the effort.  
  
"Congratulations, you're stoned!" someone on the other side of the fire yelled out. He was rewarded with more laughter. Even Duo had to exhale some of the smoke through his nose in order to laugh.   
  
Relena's hands rubbed her arms to ward off goosebumps; the fall night had grown quite cold, and her light blouse, shawl and long, full skirt were doing nothing to keep her warm.   
  
Suddenly, a thick blanket was draped over her shoulders. She looked up into Quatre's sea-breeze eyes. "Thank you."  
  
"You looked cold," he said, sitting down next to her. He glanced over at Duo who was passing the joint to the same History major he had been chatting up on the bus, Rebecca. "This is one of those nights that I think I'll remember for the rest of my life."  
  
Relena tilted her head to the side to see him better. "Why's that?"  
  
"Well...for one thing, we're out here with thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of people who are totally committed to ending this war. Don't you feel the sense of community? Of purpose?"   
  
She smiled and nodded. "I do."  
  
"Secondly, but perhaps more importantly..." Quatre looked at her; his eyes held nothing back. "I'm here with you."  
  
Long moments passed between them. Relena's tongue darted out, moistening her lips. Just when she was starting to doubt his intentions, Quatre leaned forward and kissed her.   
  
Relena had kissed two men in her life. Heero and a random boy during a junior high game of Spin the Bottle. This kiss was like neither of them. Her eyes closed when Quatre's tongue parted her lips. His mouth was warm, comfortable, unlike the fire and spice of Heero's kisses.   
  
His hand cupped the back of her head and tangled in her hair as they kissed, oblivious of the others around them. It was only when Relena felt a hard tap on her back that she broke the kiss. There were hoots and cat-calls from the students, shouts of encouragment and congratulations. Relena's cheeks burned hotter than the fire.   
  
Quatre held up his hands. "All right...show's over. Someone hand me that thing." He reached out for the circling joint.   
  
Relena's guilty eyes darted to Duo. He was watching her very carefully, clearly not stoned enough to let the kiss slip by without notice. Mortified, Relena pulled Quatre's blanket closer around her body.   
  
When Quatre passed her the joint a minute later, she inhaled deeply. The sweet smell of the marijuana, coupled with the happy fog it created over her mind, was more than enough to erase the lingering pressure of Quatre's kiss...and the invading image of Heero's face.  
  
****  
  
Vietnam  
  
Nights were the worst. He didn't mind the endless days spent crossing rice paddies, hills, walking through villages, ducking and covering. More than a year in the jungle had honed his skills to a point so fine, he could smell a sniper long before the first bullet was fired. The days were bearable. He could control them, control himself and his thoughts. His hands were never empty during the day.   
  
But at night, on patrol, far away from the nearest American base, everything changed. Unable to see through the dark, moonless nights when the rain poured down so hard the drops actually bruised his skin, Heero was completely vulnerable. He rarely slept, but when he did, he woke every hour, to make sure he was still alive.   
  
Most of his nights were spent sitting in the mud, listening to the other members of his patrol talking, eating, desperately trying to relax. He joined them ever so often, and listened to the endless stories about families back home, girlfriends who perfumed their letters, whores in Saigon who would do absolutely anything for an American dollar.   
  
And when the whole camp was asleep, mostly in pairs, sitting up back to back, Heero would still be awake, leaning against either Wufei or Trowa, clutching his AK-47. His eyes would be on the restless jungle that surrounded them, choking them, but his thoughts were very far away. In a warm, clean bed with a sated, pliable Relena curled up against him.   
  
That particular night was no different. Wufei's back was pressed to his, its owner asleep and lightly snoring. Heero's own eyes were closed, indulging in a memory. A rare moment with his guard down. His lips were dancing down the inside of Relena's soft, supple thigh towards the center of her body. He smiled suddenly; it had been months since he had smiled.  
  
The first shot fired came from out of the jungle, the sound was like a slap across the face. It was enough to wake the whole camp, but not enough warning to stave off the attack. Relena quickly faded from Heero's mind as every survival instinct took over his entire body.   
  
He could vaguely hear Wufei barking out instructions; he could just make out the outline of Trowa's body in the red-orange light from a dozen weapons firing all around them. He raised his own weapon, pointed towards the jungle, the dark, dangerous maze of vegetation, and fired. Shot after shot, he kept on, unsure if he was actually hitting anything.   
  
Sharp pain in his side was ignored, as was the warmth of blood soaking his uniform to his body. His mouth was open, corded with the effort it took to scream, a primal cry that was neither pain nor sorrow. Only the sudden flash of light, the warmth of the explosion all around him, and the cold mud against his cheek, wiped away the night.  
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	10. Eve of Destruction

Disclaimer: Accomplished many times.  
  
Author's Notes: I don't like repeating a stupid disclaimer, but I can never thank you all enough for your kind words about my stories. I hope I keep living up to them.  
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
"You're old enough to kill, but not for votin'. You don't believe in war, but what's that gun you're totin'? And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin', but you tell me over and over and over again, my friend, how you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction...take a look around you, boy. It's bound to scare you, boy." -Barry McGuire  
  
****  
  
Washington D.C.  
October 21, 1967  
  
Relena woke up with a strange, solid wall of warmth next to her. Blinking, she sat up in the little tent; the lump in the blankets stirred. Once the sleep was cleared from her eyes, Relena whispered, "Quatre?"  
  
His eyes opened, revealing deep aquamarines. "Morning."   
  
She licked her lips. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Nothing illicit, I promise." Quatre sat up, stretching. "You fell asleep on my shoulder last night."   
  
Relena picked up her shawl and drew it around her arms to ward off the early morning chill. "Why didn't Duo make sure I got to my tent?"  
  
"He was a little...."  
  
"Stoned?" Relena smiled.   
  
Quatre pushed the blankets off his legs. "Did you sleep all right?"  
  
"As well as can be expected in a tent." There was a pause. "Quatre...I just want you to know..."  
  
"Relena, you don't have to..."  
  
She cut him off. "No, let me." After a moment, she continued. "You once told me that you found me very attractive."   
  
"I still do," he said softly.   
  
"Last night...when we kissed. Well..." She met his gaze. "I've always found you attractive, too."  
  
A smile spread onto Quatre's handsome face. "I've wanted to be with you for a long time, Relena. Is this the moment I've hoped for?"  
  
"I don't know." Her smooth brow crinkled. "I'm trying to figure everything out. You..." She swallowed. "Heero."   
  
Quatre nodded. "Part of you will always love him."  
  
Relena hesitated. "Quatre...more than just part of me is still in love with him."  
  
"It's never been my intention to be the thing that comes between you and him," Quatre finally said. "But I've never met the man. I suppose that makes it easier for me to wonder why someone who you claim loves you so much...could hurt you so immensely."  
  
"He didn't want to, " she whispered. "He had to."  
  
"And he left you all alone, without a word." Quatre reached out and ran his fingers through her long, silky hair. "I will never leave you alone, Relena. No matter what."  
  
Relena felt the hot pressure of impending tears. "I just need more time, Quatre. I need to make sure."  
  
Nodding again, he leaned forward enough to press his lips against hers in a soft, brief kiss. "Take all the time you need. I'll still be here."   
  
A second kiss was interrupted by a rustling at the flap of their tent. Duo stuck his head inside, his braid undone, hair flopping every which way down his bare chest. "Relena..." he began, but stopped when he took in the sight of her, sharing a blanket with Quatre Winner.   
  
Relena cleared her throat. "How was your night, Duo?"  
  
"Pleasurable," he replied. Giving her a highly raised eyebrow, he continued, "How was yours?"  
  
"Restful," Relena assured him. She crawled towards the opening of the tent and stood up outside next to her best friend. "Nothing happened in there but sleep."  
  
Duo held up his hands. "I told you to do what's best for you. Who am I to say what that is?" He put his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. "Just so long as you're happy, princess."  
  
She turned her face into Duo's muscled arm. "Yeah." Pulling back, she wiped her eyes. "So, what's for breakfast?"  
  
****  
  
The wide steps of the Pentagon building overflowed with color, sound and motion. Relena lowered the poster in her hands that bore the words "Peace Now," and looked around. Quatre had been right. It was one of those times in her life she would never forget.   
  
Thousands of fellow protesters swarmed around her, singing, chanting, screaming, crying out for justice. The rhythm of the crowd was in her blood, all she could do was surrender to it. Her voice rose with the others, combining in mid-air to rock the usually quiet atmosphere of the capital.   
  
Someone's hand found hers. She glanced over to see Quatre, weaving his fingers through hers. He was smiling as he chanted; his face was peaceful, as though he were born to live in this moment.   
  
"Peace now, freedom now! Peace now, freedom now!"  
  
Duo appeared at her other side, a leather head band that Relena recognized as Rebecca, the History major's, was wrapped around his forehead, explaining in whose tent Duo had spent the night. There was also a yellow flower stuck in his braid; Relena hoped he knew, but wasn't about to tell him. All she did was quickly untangle her fingers from Quatre's.   
  
"Peace now, freedom now! Peace now, freedom now!"  
  
The only dark cloud on the horizon was the interlocked line of military police blockading the steps of the massive, white building, only ten feet from where the NC State students stood. Young men in clean fatigues and hard helmets carrying heavy weaponry stared out over the crowd, a silent, but forceful presence.   
  
Relena could see Heero in each one of them.   
  
A petal from one of the flowers in her own hair brushed her cheek as it fell to the ground. She glanced down, tearing her attention away from the hum of the chant. It was right then that the people behind her pushed forward. She was knocked off-balance and stumbled out of the protective shield of Quatre and Duo's bodies.   
  
The protesters behind seized the opportunity and pressed through the space between her two friends, pushing a disconcerted Relena along with them. She could hear Quatre yell out her name, but the force two dozen determined bodies placed on her was too great for her to fight her way back.   
  
Her feet were moving, but through no will of her own. It was a survival tactic; if she stopped moving, she would be trampled. The crowd wasn't stopping for anything. Relena could see nothing but arms, legs, angry faces. As they moved further forward, she fought back, desperate to claw her way out of the tangle of people.   
  
"Relena!" Duo shouted over the roar of the chant.   
  
There was more screaming, but Relena could make out no other words. She was still being pushed along with a sinking feeling that the crowd trapping her in its midst was moving closer and closer to the line of military police.   
  
"Stay back!!" a male voice shouted, no doubt a young soldier. "Don't come any closer!"  
  
She began to hear pieces of a new chant. "Peace now....not against the soldiers...freedom now....against the war..."   
  
Someone's elbow jabbed her in the ribs. Relena clutched at her side. Somewhere in the midst of her pain, the crowd she had been caught in reached the military police. There was motion all around her, but she was only aware of the dull throbbing in her ribcage. Her breath was becoming labored.   
  
She turned around and came face to face with a soldier, no more than eighteen years old. His eyes were the same shade of blue as Heero's. The rifle in his hands was raised over his head. When he slammed the butt of onto the back of her neck, the entire world exploded into complete blackness.  
  
****  
  
Vietnam  
  
"We've got another one!!"   
  
Dr. Sally Po paused only long enough to brush a sweaty curl of dark blond hair out of her eyes before she ran up to the medics. "Over here," she instructed, guiding them towards the only unoccupied operation table.   
  
"Gunshot wounds to the shoulder and thigh, possibly elsewhere. It's too dark and there's too damn much blood." The men lifted the new patient from their blood-soaked stretcher and laid him down onto the table. "You got it from here, Doc?" one medic asked her.   
  
She nodded. A nurse was already on her way over with a fresh tray of supplies. The two medics she recognized took back their stretcher, returning to the jungle for more survivors. A third man, who she had assumed was also a medic, stayed back, watching carefully.   
  
Sally ignored him for the moment. "Give him 10 cc's of morphine," she ordered the nurse. As the younger girl was carrying out the instructions, Sally grabbed a pair of scissors and started cutting the soldier's uniform in the places where she could see the most blood.   
  
When she had determined that there were only wounds in the shoulder and thigh, she ordered water to clean the area. There was no way to extract the bullets without being able to see through the blood.   
  
At the first touch of the hot water on his injuries, her patient cried out and without warning, launched himself into a sitting position. He made a frantic, morphine-induced grab for Sally. "I can't find him!!" he screamed, his bloody fingers grabbing her uniform shirt. "I can't find him!!"  
  
It was the first time she had looked at the man's face. His almond-shaped eyes were dark, clouded with pain, fright, panic. Sally blinked. He was the image of what war could do to a person.   
  
The stranger who had come in with him made a grab for the wounded man's hands, yanking them away from Sally and allowing her to take a step back.  
  
"Get him in restraints!" Sally ordered.  
  
"No, it's all right. He'll only fight more if you try to restrain him, and he might end up hurting someone." The soldier's companion held him to the table. "I can hold him down."  
  
Sally wiped her brow with the back of her wrist. "I have to dig two bullets out of him. You can't possibly keep him down for that long."  
  
"Find him!!" the wounded man cried. "Where is he?!"   
  
"Your morphine will kick in soon, won't it?"   
  
She stared at the other man as he continued to keep his friend down. "Yeah." She sighed. "All right. Hold him for as long as you can." Sally thrust her hands into a bowl of warm, sterile water provided by a nurse. After pulling on a pair of fresh latex gloves, she reached for a probe.   
  
Her patient bucked when she dug into the wound on his leg, but his friend managed to steady him enough for Sally to continue working. By the time she pulled the bullet out of his flesh, he had relaxed almost completely, although he was still conscious.   
  
"Where is he...can't find him..." No longer screaming, his voice had dropped to a flat monotone as the morphine worked its way into his system.   
  
"What happened..." Squinting, she read the name off the other man's uniform. "Private Barton?"   
  
He looked down at his friend. "Our squad was attacked in the middle of the night. They came out of the jungle, completely decimated our night patrol." With a shake of his head, he continued. "Wufei...that's his name...he went down in the fray."  
  
"Can't find him..." Wufei whispered, his eyes glazing over.  
  
Sally blinked to clear away the perspiration dripping into her eyes. "Who's he talking about?"  
  
The man named Barton took a moment to reply. "Our friend. Heero." His jaw grew tight. "After we got the situation under control....we couldn't find his body."   
  
"Well, that's good, right?" Sally started on the wound in Wufei's shoulder. "If there's no body, then he must still be alive."  
  
He shook his head. "The 'Cong who got us had hand grenades. They can shred a man to bits, leaving nothing behind." There was a pause. "We'll go back tomorrow and pick over the camp for...remains, but I don't have much doubt. Heero's dead."  
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	11. The Times Are A'Changin'

Disclaimer: These crazy characters...see, they don't belong to me. I just think of funny situations to put them in. Or not so funny. Whatever;)  
  
Author's Notes: Thanks for continuing to read. I used to be unsure of this story, and it makes me very happy to see people into it.  
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
"Come mothers and fathers, throughout the land. And don't criticize what you can't understand. Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command; your old road is rapidly agin'. Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand, for the times, they are a'changin'." -Bob Dylan  
  
****  
  
Washington D.C.  
  
Duo wasn't exactly sure how the protest had gotten out of control, but it seemed to be just before Relena had been pushed into the crowd and carried away towards the heavily guarded line around the Pentagon entrance. It should have been inevitable, he supposed, that fifty thousand people with such strong convictions wouldn't be happy being held at bay by a handful of military policemen.   
  
But he hadn't realized what a drastic turn the day had taken until he felt handcuffs being slapped around his wrists.   
  
All he and Quatre had been trying to do was get to Relena. They had lost sight of her within the throngs of people swarming towards the building. It was almost as though she had been caught in an undertow. Once they realized that she was powerless to fight her way back to them, they had gone after her, following the flow of the people.   
  
By the time they caught up, the violence had exploded. Twenty or thirty people had burst past the military police in their attempt to reach the Pentagon vestabule. Blood colored the white marble of the building from the injured protestors.   
  
"Relena!" Duo called out. His voice barely carried over the din.   
  
Next to him, Quatre shook his head. "I don't see her. Where could she have...hey!!" He was cut off by a military policeman who grabbed his wrists. "What the hell?!"  
  
"You're under arrest," the uniformed man announced.   
  
Duo's own hands had been twisted behind his back; the metal handcuffs dug into his flesh. "This is fucking insane! We're just trying to find our friend!!"  
  
His words were ignored as he and Quatre were pulled down the steps by the cuffs around their wrists. A flash of honey blonde caught Duo's eye. His eyes grew wide. It was Relena, unconscious. Blood stained her peasant blouse and matted her hair. She was being carried down the steps by a soldier, but already there were handcuffs on her wrists.   
  
"Hey! Hey!!" Duo struggled against his escort. "What did you bastards do to her?!"  
  
Quatre pulled at his restraints. "Where are you taking her?! Let go of Relena! She's hurt!!"  
  
The men carting them away continued to ignore them. Soon, they both found themselves being pushed into an old-fashioned paddy wagon, presumably to be carted off to either the military or county jail.   
  
Once inside and seated amongst a dozen other arrested protesters, Duo looked at Quatre. "They've got to be taking her to a hospital."   
  
"Let's hope."   
  
The vehicle lurched forward. "I'll have to call her brother. Hopefully, he'll take pity and bail me out of this. What about you, Winner?"  
  
Quatre looked down at the metal floor. "I can post my own bail."   
  
"Don't want to call the folks?" Duo shrugged. "Can't blame you, I guess."   
  
The blond man attempted a smile. "The only thing of my father's that I've seen since I graduated from high school is his money. He doesn't...approve of my politics." Quatre's chin rested on his chest. "She had better be all right. If they do anything to her..."   
  
Duo used his shoulder to soothe an itch on the underside of his jaw. He stopped cold when he saw the raw emotion on Quatre's face. "You love her, don't you?"  
  
"Would you object if I said I did?"  
  
He let out a long sigh. "Relena has been in love with Heero since they were eight years old. Right now, she's recovering from what she thinks was losing him. I'm not so convinced that they're over, but I have to go with whatever makes Relena happy. And if you make her happy...I can't object."   
  
Quatre nodded. "I appreciate that. And I will make her happy. If she'll let me." Another pause followed as the vehicle hit several potholes, jolting them every which way. "Did he love her back?"  
  
"Did he love her?" Duo snorted softly. "She's the only thing that's ever mattered in his entire life."   
  
****  
  
Vietnam  
  
She wasn't sure what had drawn her to and kept her at Corporal Wufei Chang's bedside, but when Sally came to after a long night of endless surgeries, she woke to the sight of the man's bare torso, swaddled in bandages. His skin was smooth and deeply tanned, a mark of his heritage and a sign that he had been living outside for a good while. Sally gave herself a mental slap on the wrist. Now was not the time to admire his physical features.   
  
To her relief, his chest rose and fell with steady breath; his life was out of danger. Standing up, Sally stretched her cramped, over-worked muscles. A cup of extremely strong coffee was what she needed, but first there were rounds to be made. Giving her patient a final look, she prepared to walk away.   
  
A hand grasped her wrist. Sally spun back around and found herself looking down at the open, bottomless black eyes that had stared at her last night in a panicked, drugged state. Now, they were more relaxed, but still, she had to note, intense.   
  
"Take it easy," she told him, easing out of his grip. "You'll pull all those stitches I had to put into you."  
  
Wufei frowned. "Who are you?" His voice was dry, a lingering effect of the morphine.   
  
"Doctor Po. Sally." She sat back down. "Are you in any pain?"  
  
"I can tolerate it."  
  
"It'd be very easy to give you another shot of morphine. You had two serious gunshot..."  
  
He cut her off abruptly. "I'm fine. Where's Heero?"  
  
She bit her lip, unsure of how to break the news to him. "Are you sure about the morphine? It'll help you sleep, and you need a lot of rest to.."  
  
"Woman." Wufei's eyes narrowed. "Where did they take Heero? Corporal Heero Yuy of the 23rd Infantry?"   
  
Sally's first instinct was to snap back on the manner in which he addressed her, but let it slide. What she was about to tell him was far more punishment than he deserved. "Corporal Chang..." She licked her lips. "Your friend, Private Barton...he had to get back to the squad...what's left of it, but he told me to tell you..." She stopped for a moment. "They've been unable to locate your friend's body." A second passed; realization failed to register on her patient's face. "In all likelihood, he was...destroyed by a hand grenade. I'm very sorry."   
  
Wufei blinked several times. "No dog tags?"  
  
"Not that I know of."  
  
"Dog tags would have survived a grenade."  
  
Sally tucked a curl behind her ear. "Not if the heat of the blast was intense enough to melt the metal."   
  
Wufei started shaking his head. "Heero weighs 170. A grenade can't decimate 170 pounds of flesh."   
  
"I'm not an expert, but I've seen men, bigger than that, who have been hit by grenades." Sally grimaced, remembering. The scorched flesh, black and crisp in some areas, but deadly red in others. Faces melted away. Bare, charred bones. "There wasn't much left of them to work on."  
  
He touched the bandages on his leg, wincing ever so slightly. "Until I see proof...he is not dead."   
  
"I hope you're right," she replied. "But officially, he's MIA. Presumed KIA. I have to write out the certificate sometime today. The telegram goes out to his family tomorrow."  
  
Wufei turned his head away from her. "I don't believe it."  
  
Something propelled her to take his hand, the same force, she assumed, that had kept her at his side throughout the night. "I'm really very sorry for your loss."   
  
He didn't squeeze her fingers in recognition, but neither did he push her away. "It's not a loss." Wufei looked back up at her. "Heero Yuy would not let himself die without seeing Relena Peacecraft again. It's as simple as that."  
  
Sally stood up. "Get some rest. I'll be back to check on you."   
  
"Don't let them send that telegram, woman." His hand held onto hers, preventing her from leaving.   
  
"I'm sorry," she replied. "I don't have a choice. As far as the US Army is concerned, your friend is gone."   
  
****  
  
Washington D.C.  
  
"Why did you let this happen?" Millardo Peacecraft spoke through teeth clenched as tight as his hands were on the steering wheel. "Duo? I thought you were taking care of her."   
  
In the backseat of Millardo's car, Duo sighed. In the thirty minutes since Millardo and his fiancee had posted Duo's bail, and Quatre had dipped into his trust fund for his, he had been subjected to this same question no less than a dozen times. And every time, Duo had replied, "It was a peaceful protest. It just got out of hand."  
  
As they approached the hospital where they had been told all wounded protesters had been taken, Millardo shook his head. "I can't believe Relena allowed herself to get caught up in all this shit."  
  
Lucrezia Noin gave her fiancee a look from the seat next to him. It was a look that only came from her complete love and devotion, as well as her understanding of his moods and characteristics. It had been she who convinced him not to hang up on Duo when he called from the D.C. jail. And it was only through her persuasion that Millardo had agreed to spring for the boy's bail.   
  
"My peacekeeper," he had called her. Lucrezia didn't mind the title; there were worse ones to bear. The truth was, if she had been a few years younger and a lot less settled, she might have been on the steps of the Pentagon with the rest of them.   
  
She covered his hand which rested on the stick shift. "The main thing is making sure Relena is all right," she reminded him. "There will be plenty of time for reprimands later."   
  
Millardo gave a muted grunt of agreement. He glanced in the rear view mirror, watching Duo as the braided boy watched the city zipping by. "Who is this Quatre? And why is he following us?"   
  
Duo didn't respond for a second. "He's a friend of ours. He's worried about her."  
  
"Really? And just how well do you know this friend who's so concerned about my little sister?"  
  
"He's a junior Political Science major from Raleigh. He heads up NC State's chapter of SDS. He's about five foot ten, I'd guess 150 pounds. A Taurus vegetarian, he enjoys..."   
  
Millardo cut Duo off. "Haven't gotten rid of that smart mouth, have you?"   
  
Duo met the man's cool blue eyes in the reflection of the mirror. "Never."   
  
"Well..." Relena's brother turned a corner, heading up a small road that would put them directly in front of the hospital entrance. "At least she's getting over Yuy."   
  
He let Millardo's comment slide in the wake of his concern over Relena's well-being. Turning his head, he caught a glimpse of the taxi Quatre had hailed, following close behind. Suddenly, his head pounded. Duo pulled Rebecca's head band off his forehead, hoping it was the source of the pain.   
  
She had been exciting and different. The first girl he had slept with since Hilde. The thrill of being in a tent, with their classmates just outside, trying to keep quiet in the middle of the night...it should have been enough to drive away all thoughts of his dark-haired pixie. But it hadn't. And he had found himself biting his lip and drawing blood to keep from crying her name when he let himself go in Rebecca's arms.   
  
He pushed the memory away. Dwelling on it wasn't going to do Relena any good. And when they entered the hospital and were led to the exam room where she was being held, Duo realized just how much of all their thoughts, hopes and, possibly, prayers his best friend was going to need.   
  
Relena had slipped into a deep, dangerous coma.  
  
****  
  
It took a good deal of money and influence, but when he finally gave in and agreed to let Quatre Winner cover some of the expenses, Millardo arranged to have Relena transferred to the Community Hospital in Peacecraft.   
  
For Duo and Quatre, classes were completely forgotten; both filed incompletes for the semester. Duo moved back into his parent's house. He doubted they even noticed. Quatre took up residence in the only decent hotel the town offered, but most of his time was spent in the long-term care wing of the hospital.   
  
Relena hovered on the border between the realm of reality and what lay just beyond it. Some days, Duo was absolutely convinced that if he talked long enough and loud enough, she would sit up and tell him to put a sock in it. But days passed like the footsteps of a snail, and still she remained motionless.   
  
On the eighth day after the protest, Millardo entered his sister's room with an expression as heavy as lead. A light piece of paper in his hand seemed to be the source of his burden. Both Duo and Quatre looked up as he came in; they each held one of Relena's hands.   
  
"Anything?" Millardo asked, his voice hoarse.  
  
Duo shook his head. "I thought I saw her eyelids flutter, but...I guess it was just wishful thinking."   
  
Her brother nodded before looking down at the letter in his hand. "Mrs. Yuy....Heero's mother...she brought this over to me this morning." He rubbed the back of his other hand across his mouth. "I just left her down in the emergency room. Shock..."   
  
Duo watched the paper as though it were a snake that could inflict poison. "Is that..." His vocal chords gave out, unable to form the words.   
  
Millardo nodded. "Last week....his platoon came under attack. They haven't been able to...to find his body. But they've gone ahead and declared him..."   
  
Relena's room suddenly contained no air. Or perhaps he just couldn't breathe. The lump in Duo's throat was cutting off his air supply. Heero. His first friend ever. The one who had helped him beat up the sixth grade bullies, the one who had let him have his chocolate milk when Duo's parents forgot to buy food. He had been the first to hear about Duo's undying passion for Hilde, the first to tell him to shut up or get one in the eye.   
  
The first person in the entire world who had given a damn about him.   
  
Tears that he thought he could only spend for Hilde threatened to reveal themselves. Duo lowered his head and let them fall, out of sight, onto his black, embroidered peasant shirt, a birthday present from Relena. Relena. When she woke up....if she woke up....who was going to tell her? How could anyone tell her such a thing?   
  
He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Quatre's; he leaned over Relena to comfort him. "I'm truly sorry," he said sincerely.  
  
Duo nodded. Suddenly, he inhaled sharply.   
  
"What is it?" Quatre asked.   
  
His head shot up. "Relena..." Just as quickly, he glanced back down, this time at the hand that held Relena's. "Her fingers moved! I swear to god, Millardo....she tried to squeeze my hand!!"   
  
Relena's brother ran to the side of the bed. A gracious Quatre stepped out of the way. "'Lena?" Millardo gently stroked the top of his sister's head. "Open your eyes, sweetie. Please...open them."   
  
A moment passed before she responded. Her forehead wrinkled and her hand jerked in Duo's once again. "She's waking up!" Duo declared.   
  
Quatre started for the door. "I'll get a doctor."   
  
When he was gone, Millardo leaned over further as though saying the words closer to her ear would help her wake up. "Come on, Relena. Open your eyes...open them now, Relena. I'm right here and I want to see you open your eyes."   
  
Duo held his breath. He expelled it loudly a moment later when her eyelids twitched and slowly opened. Millardo grinned. It was the happiest Duo could ever remember seeing him. "Relena...don't try to talk. We're getting a doctor to..."  
  
The tip of her pink tongue ran around the inside of her lips. She blinked her eyes a few times before they would stay open. Against Millardo's order, she tried to form a word. Duo reached for the water that sat on a high tray next to the bed, and after he helped her take a sip, she tried again. "I want..." Relena let out a little whimper.  
  
"Princess...shhh." Duo put a finger to her cracked lips. "Save your energy."  
  
Her head shook ever so slightly; she grimaced from the pain the motion brought. "I want..." she began again. "I want..."  
  
"What, Relena? More water?" Millardo took her hand. "Are you hungry?"  
  
"Heero," Relena finally managed to say. Her eyes closed briefly. "I want Heero."   
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	12. Like a Rollin' Stone

Disclaimer: Standard stuff.   
  
Author's Notes: Thank you everyone who has reviewed. I appreciate it very much. But for the record, I have actually never seen Pearl Harbor. Several people have compared this story to it, so I'm just letting you know. I have a vague idea what it was about, but I never really wanted to see it. I had enough of overdramatized historical romance with Titanic; that was four years ago and I'm still recovering from it. This story is my story; any judgements on its resemblence to movies I've never seen should be reserved until it's done. I hope you keep reading, even though I just sounded like a pre-menstrual bitch from hell;) Thank you!  
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth   
  
****  
  
"Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse. When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose. You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal. How does it feel? How does it feel? To be on your own, with no direction home, a complete unknown? Like a rolling stone." -Bob Dylan  
  
****  
  
Saigon  
December 24, 1967  
  
The roar of five thousand G.I.'s, Marines, pilots, and seabies was utterly overwhelming. Hilde ran off the stage when the lights went down on the third curtain call of the night, her heart racing so fast she was afraid it might explode.   
  
"We were a hit!" one of her fellow chorus girls cried out, throwing her arms around Hilde's neck.   
  
Hilde laughed. "I think it was all Mr. Hope." The legendary comedian was back on stage for his own, private encore, and already she could hear the troops laughing.   
  
Her part of the show over, Hilde retreated to the makeshift girl's dressing room. Plopping down in a chair, she undid the buckles on her high-heeled, silver tap shoes and kicked them off. The other chorus girls milled around her, undressing, chatting and laughing, still on the euphoric high of the evening. Hilde wasn't immune to it, either; it was better than any drug in the world.   
  
But she had found, when she was dancing out there, that it wasn't the mere act of performing that filled her with such sheer joy. They had done ten shows in and around Saigon since arriving two weeks earlier, and each time, she got more out of the appreciate response from the soldiers than she did from the actual performance.   
  
She sat at one of the lighted mirrors and scrubbed at her thick, stage lipstick with a tissue. Her little bit of dancing had helped make so many lonely men happy for an evening. The next day they might have had to return to the jungle and face death, but for an hour, they had been able to put everything aside and simply enjoy the show. For Hilde, providing that opportunity, was the high of all time.   
  
And it was why, after final show on New Year's Eve, she wouldn't be returning to America with the company.   
  
****  
  
Peacecraft  
  
A single thought kept running through her mind. Over and over again...she couldn't shake it off. It festered inside her, growing more powerful every day, threatening to completely consume her. It made her cry, it made her pull her hair. She hated herself for it, the regret often driving her to the edge of insanity.   
  
"If only I had gotten pregnant."   
  
Curled up on her childhood bed, Relena chewed on a ragged thumbnail as she said the words out loud for the thousandth time. She stared at the bay window without blinking. How many hours had she spent sitting there, watching his house? Watching him mow the lawn without his shirt on, blushing when he would look up and smile at her?   
  
She would never get to watch him again.   
  
If she had gotten pregnant, she would still have a part of him with her, she told herself once again. There would still be a piece of him in the world. A perfect baby, created entirely from what they had shared, from their love.   
  
If she had had Heero's baby, she wouldn't be utterly alone now.   
  
There was a light knock on Relena's door. She jumped slightly, but didn't say anything. A moment later, the door opened.   
  
"Relena?" It was her brother's fiancee, Lucrezia. "Relena, are you awake?"  
  
Her only response was to pull her knees closer to her chest.   
  
Lucrezia came in anyway. The sound of china clinking told Relena she had brought yet another tray of food in what would be a useless attempt to get her to eat. "Are you hungry today? It's Christmas Eve."   
  
Relena blinked. Christmas Eve, two years ago, she had been in Heero's arms as they made love for the first time. He had been unbelievably gentle with her, although she could tell he had been straining to hold himself back. She loved him all the more for it.   
  
"I made tomato soup," Lucrezia continued. "Your brother told me it's a Peacecraft holiday tradition." She set the tray down on Relena's night stand. "I have to learn all of these things for when I'm a member of the Peacecraft family."   
  
Because she sounded so hopeful, Relena rolled over to watch the woman. She could see what her brother saw in Lucrezia Noin, but at that time, happiness for other people in love...she simply wasn't up to it.   
  
Lucrezia picked up the bowl of soup and a spoon. "Will you eat, then?" Relena shook her head. The bowl lowered; disappointment and worry were evident in the other woman's eyes. "Maybe later." She set the food aside and sat on the edge of the bed. "Maybe you'd like to take a shower? Wash your hair?"  
  
Relena's eyes closed. "No. Thank you," she finally said.   
  
"Are you sure? Duo and Quatre said they were going to stop by in the next few days with presents. I'm sure you'll want to look your best for..."  
  
The mere mention of Quatre's name sent waves of painful guilt crashing down upon her. "I don't want to see anyone."   
  
Lucrezia sighed. "They're very worried about you, Relena. We all are." To this, the younger girl simply shrugged her shoulders as much as she could. "Relena," she started again, with more force in her tone. "I understand loss. It feels like your entire world has been ripped apart. But Relena..." She leaned forward. "It does get better. It won't seem like it for awhile, but I promise, it does. As long as you don't keep out the people who care about you."  
  
After a moment, Relena opened her eyes. "I loved him so much," she whispered, choking on the words. Her eyes were dry. All her tears had been shed in the days after Millardo had broken the news about Heero's death. Now, it seemed as though she would never be able to cry again. "I didn't fix us..." She burrowed her face into her pillow. "He died...thinking I had forgotten him..."  
  
"Shhh..." Lucrezia gently rubbed the girl's back. "From what Duo's told me, he never doubted you loved him, Relena." She paused, carefully phrasing her words. "But I don't think he would want you to be this miserable anymore."  
  
Relena slowly lifted her head. "He'd want me to be strong?"  
  
Lucrezia cupped her chin in one, soft hand. "You can better answer that than I."  
  
"He would." Relena sat up for the first time all day. "Heero would want me to be strong." She met the older woman's eyes. "It's not too late to start, is it?"  
  
"Of course not." Lucrezia smiled. Millardo would have reminded Relena that it been two months in coming, but she simply kissed the girl's forehead. "Now, will you eat and take a bath?"  
  
Relena nodded and accepted the bowl from her brother's fiancee. After the first, comforting spoonful, she looked at Lucrezia again. "Can I tell you something?"   
  
"Of course."  
  
She swallowed a second mouthful. "If I had let myself have his baby, it would be fifteen months old now."  
  
Lucrezia didn't seem particularly shocked by this revelation. "Can I tell you something?" Relena nodded. "If I hadn't lost your brother's baby, they'd be about the same age."  
  
****  
  
Saigon  
  
December 31, 1967  
  
Although the company was sad to leave her behind, Hilde didn't have to expend too much effort to convince the U.S.O. producers that she would be fine if they left without her. The fact that she had secured a job as a much-needed nurse-in-training at the Saigon base helped quite a bit.   
  
Hilde was already looking forward to the new challenge. She didn't kid herself; it was going to be grisly and far more dangerous than traveling with the U.S.O. As long as she stayed in Saigon, though, her safety was fairly guaranteed.   
  
After the final New Year's Eve show, Hilde found herself walking through downtown Saigon, well away from the nude bars and brothels that catered to the American soldiers and embassy personnel, but close enough to the base for her protection.   
  
The truth was, she liked Saigon. It was dirty, yes, but not much more so than some of the places she had woken up to in Hollywood. It held an old-world charm, having only just caught up to the modern times. For every out-dated car that passed by her, she encountered a hand-pulled rickshaw.   
  
Even the signs along the shop windows fascinated her. The Vietnamese language was completely beyond her grasp; ten natives speaking at once was like a hen full of chickens. Fast, loud, incomprehensible.   
  
Worlds away from Peacecraft, which had held her down, and Hollywood that had nearly destroyed her, Hilde found a small bit of peace in the haphazard capital of South Vietnam.   
  
Although there were dozens of people walking the same street, Hilde suddenly had the feeling she was being followed. She stopped, wishing she had worn a pair of slacks, rather than the comfortable hot pants.   
  
When she started walking again, the feeling followed her. Not one to shriek and run away, Hilde took a huge breath and spun around very quickly to confront her stalker.   
  
He was a Marine, tall with piercing green eyes. Handsome. Her eyes narrowed. "If I scream, a dozen people would be on you in a second."  
  
The man's smile was haunting. "I'm afraid you have the wrong idea."  
  
"So, you haven't been following me from the base?"  
  
"Only because it takes either a huge fool or balls of steel to walk in this part of the city, alone, at night," he replied, cooly.   
  
Hilde blinked. "I'm nowhere near the brothels."  
  
He took a step towards her. "Miss...the red light district is the safest part of Saigon. Now, are you going to scream if I offer myself as an escort on the way back?"   
  
She only hesitated a moment. Suddenly, the street which had seemed so charming minutes earlier, seemed threatening. "Fine." Ignoring the hand he held out, she walked past him, doubling back on her route.  
  
When they reached the base, he stayed at her side until the barracks the U.S.O. members were staying in was visible. Hilde took a second look at the Marine. "Thank you," she said.   
  
"It was my pleasure." Backing up a step, he started to leave.   
  
"Wait...don't I at least get to know your name?"   
  
"It's Trowa," he replied. "You'll only get my rank if you have lunch with me tomorrow."   
  
"Deal." Hilde put her hands on her hips. "If I see you at the canteen at noon, I might even tell you *my* name."   
  
Trowa shook his head. "One p.m. Hilde Schbeiker of the U.S.O."  
  
****  
  
Peacecraft  
  
"Three...two...one...Happy New Year!!"  
  
From her place on a comfortable love seat, Relena subtly watched her brother and Lucrezia share their first kiss of 1968. She glanced down at her lap when the kiss became more intimate. Her own lips ached to be kissed. To keep her mind off such thoughts, Relena turned her attention to the tiny television set. New York City's Times Square, exploding with the New Year.   
  
Millardo and Lucrezia broke apart when the doorbell chimed. "Wonder who that could be?" Relena looked up to see her brother heading for the foyer.   
  
A moment later, she heard two familiar voices cry, "Happy New Year!" She didn't breathe for a second. One of the voices belonged to Quatre. Although she had spent the past week pulling herself back together, making the first painful steps towards the acceptance of Heero's death, she wasn't quite sure was ready to confront the mixed emotions she experienced whenever Quatre Winner was around.   
  
But it didn't seem like she had a choice. Within seconds, Duo and Quatre appeared in the living room, each carrying a party horn and wearing a ridiculous, glittered top hat. Duo raised his horn to his lips, but lowered it once he caught sight of the commotion on the television. "We missed it?!" he cried.  
  
Relena stifled a small smile and nodded. "Only by a minute, too."  
  
Quatre took off his hat and brushed glitter out of his hair. "I told him his watch was slow."  
  
"I thought yours was just fast. Like your car, man." Duo looked at Relena. "Have you experienced the Alfa Romeo yet?" She shook her head. "It drives like a dream," Duo assured her, as he plopped onto the sofa next to her. "Happy New Year, princess."  
  
Relena accepted his kiss to her cheek and returned it with one of her own. "Happy New Year, Duo."   
  
"How are you feeling?" Quatre asked her.   
  
She lowered her eyes to the plaid blanket tucked around her lap. "I'm...better. Thank you."   
  
Duo smiled. "I have to say, I'm so glad to see you up, princess."  
  
"Well..." Relena caught Lucrezia's eye. "I guess I just realized that I'm not the only person in the world who's suffered."  
  
The older woman's eyes misted over. To avoid crying, she busied herself turning off the TV. "Why don't you drive me home, sweetie?"   
  
Millardo nodded. "Relena, is there anything you need?"  
  
She closed her eyes as her brother bent down to kiss her forehead. "I'm fine, Millardo. You just be careful on the roads."  
  
"Lots of crazies out there," Duo added. "And the roads are slippery."  
  
After Millardo and Lucrezia had donned their coats and scarves and left, Relena gestured to a chair. "Quatre, you can sit down if you like."  
  
Duo had been fumbling around inside his long, wool coat. As soon as Quatre sat down, he pulled out a bottle of champagne. "I think we deserve a little bit of this. What do you say, princess? A real New Year's toast?"   
  
"You know where the glasses are." She pointed to the kitchen. Duo was off and running, eager to break into the expensive bottle Quatre had provided.   
  
With Duo gone, the atmosphere in the living room became still. Relena played with the edge of her blanket, while Quatre stared at the molded ceiling. Finally, after what seemed like years, he spoke. "Duo told me you've registered for spring classes."  
  
"I need to do something," she replied. "Using school as a distraction...it should help."  
  
"I think it's a good idea," Quatre agreed. "I know you'll probably not be coming to anymore SDS meetings, but..."  
  
Relena frowned. "Why do you say that?"  
  
"Well...after everything that happened to you because of your involvement..." He let the sentence trail off.   
  
"I lost Heero to this war." Her fist curled up into a tight ball. "A little knock on the head isn't going to stop me from trying to spare some other girl the pain I've experienced."   
  
Quatre shook his head, his eyes shining. "How can you be so brave, Relena? Me...I feel...so damn guilty..." He ran his fingers through his blond locks. "For what you had to go through..."  
  
"Quatre, look at me." His eyes lifted to meet her soft gaze. "It's a new year. 1968. Can we just try to forget 1967 and move on with our lives? I can't...make peace with my loss if I'm still caught up in the past."   
  
A moment passed. In the kitchen, they could hear a cork pop. Quatre stood up and walked over to the sofa. Kneeling in front of her, he took her hands. "I love you, Relena. No...please don't think you have to have any sort of response to that. I just wanted you to hear it. I have high expectations for 1968, but we'll go at your pace." He paused. "I know I can never replace Heero, nor would I ever try to. The most important thing to me is your happiness."   
  
Twin tears slipped down her cheeks. Taking Quatre's chin in her hand, she guided his lips to hers for a soft, New Year's Eve kiss. Her heart still cried out for Heero, but her body was simply happy being kissed once again.   
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	13. In the Sunshine of Your Love

Disclaimer: The usual suspects.  
  
Author's Notes: I think the point of my last author's notes was understood by some, misunderstood by others. I was attacking no one in particular, for one thing. For another, after reading the Pearl Harbor synopsis that was provided in one person's review, I can tell you for sure, my story is nothing like this movie, except for the fact that it takes place during a war;) War stories are kinda hard to write, because so many different aspects of war and relationships during it have been explored in numerous movies. I guess I was just hoping for my story to be unique. I felt that I wrote it as unique as any war romance can be. When it got compared to such a mainstream sell-out blockbuster special effect extravaganza (if you want to defend the movie, email me, please, because that's the place to do it and I have no problem with reading and replying, but if you're going to review, I'd rather hear what you think about what you read), I got a little discouraged. And this is the only place to let yall in on what I'm thinking. I'll probably have to sit down someday and actually see this movie, but for now, I'll just have to keep pushing myself to be more and more original. Cause yall are a tough audience;) And I love ya for it!  
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth   
  
****  
  
"I'll be with you darlin', soon, I'll be with you when the stars start falling. I've been waiting so long, to be where I'm going, in the sunshine of your love." -Eric Clapton  
  
****  
  
Saigon  
March, 1968  
  
It was raining in Vietnam. Again. Normally this would have upset Hilde, it being her only day off, a day she had planned to spend with a few of the other nurses-in-training shopping in the city.   
  
But that was before a certain recently promoted Corporal from the 23rd Infantry appeared at the base with a truck full of North Vietnamese POW's his platoon had captured in the jungle.   
  
Now Hilde found herself in a rented room, listening to the rain and the bustle of the street that went on despite it, as she lay in the crook of Trowa Barton's arm. It made her squirm in renewed excitement, knowing that the only thing separating them and the people going by were tissue-thin walls and woven bamboo shades. Hilde could hear them shouting in their native language; the hum combined with the rain was so loud that she hadn't even tried to hold back her own cries when Trowa sent her spiraling into blind pleasure only minutes earlier. Now, a lazy fan spun over the bed, drying the fine sheen of sweat on their sheet-entangled bodies.   
  
She wasn't ashamed of her affair with the Marine. They had only been together a few times, whenever Trowa was in Saigon, which wasn't very often. The sex was amazing; he had all the stamina of a man who spent most of his time fighting for his life, never knowing if he'd be alive the next day or not.   
  
It always started out the same when they would meet. One time, quick and hard, as soon as they entered whatever room had been chosen, with only enough clothing removed to allow access to each other. Second time, hot and long on the bed or straw pallet. However many times followed were slower, sweeter. She continued to make herself available to him for them all combined. Since Duo, he was the only man she had slept with sober and willing.   
  
Plus, there was something else appealing about him. Although he was Duo's complete opposite in almost every way, he nonetheless reminded Hilde of her former love. Former. That was debatable. She let out a little sigh. Duo was still in her thoughts. Sometimes, when Trowa's hands were on her breasts or between her thighs, she could almost imagine it was Duo's touch she was experiencing.   
  
It was hard to admit, but those times, her orgasm was magnified a hundredfold.  
  
Certainly, it wasn't something she shared with Trowa, although they both acknowledged that what was between them was good, no-strings sex. Nothing more. So that day, when he started to talk, she was a little surprised. Other than the things he cried out in passion, Hilde hadn't talked to him all that much since their first lunch date on New Year's Day, after which they had found an empty supply closet in the makeshift hospital and launched their sexual affair.   
  
"Where are you from, Hilde?"  
  
She stared at the fan as it turned. "A little town in North Carolina. You?"  
  
"St. Louis." Trowa's hand rested on his bare, chiseled chest. "I had friend from North Carolina."   
  
"Really?" She paused. "Had?"  
  
"He died."   
  
Hilde rolled onto her side, supporting her weight on one elbow. "I'm sorry."   
  
"Yeah. He was a good guy."   
  
"I can't even imagine losing friends like that." She covered his hand with hers.   
  
Trowa's other hand, which had been flung behind his head, settled onto the silky skin of her shoulder. "It's part of war."   
  
"But still..." Hilde lowered her lips to kiss his chest. "Back home, I had a friend who was going to into boot camp. I don't know if he ever got sent here, though." She had a sudden flash image of Heero and Relena, holding hands at the diner the last night she had seen them. "I hope he didn't."  
  
"I hope so, too," Trowa replied. "For his sake." His eyes closed as Hilde's tongue circled one dark nipple. "I have to be back with my platoon tonight..."  
  
Her hands were already under the sheets, bringing him to a steely state. Within seconds, she had straddled his body, welcoming him into hers. "You'll make it back in time, soldier."   
  
****  
  
Peacecraft  
  
May, 1968  
  
"You may now kiss your lovely bride."   
  
Relena smiled. It wasn't faked or forced; she was truly happy to be standing there at the altar of the lovely little church, watching her brother take his bride into his arms for the first kiss of their marriage.   
  
There were only two dozen people gathered to watch the ceremony; Millardo and Lucrezia had wanted to keep it small and intimate. Also, Relena absolutely hated to admit, there wasn't a person in town who wasn't aware that the couple had not waited until marriage to consummate their relationship. And unfortunately, it still mattered a lot.   
  
After the happy couple started down the aisle, Relena, as the maid of honor, hooked back up with the best man, Millardo's old college friend, Treize, who had flown all the way from Louisiana to be with them. But her attention was on the blond man in the third row on the groom's side.   
  
Filling out his expensive blue suit to perfection, Quatre was certainly something to look out. And sitting next to Duo who was clad in slightly out-dated, but still classy Neru jacket, the entire third row was getting quite a bit of attention from Lucrezia's other bridesmaids.   
  
Quatre smiled at her, and completely without warning, she felt her stomach twist. It was something she hadn't felt since her last moments with Heero. She had been certain she would never feel it again.   
  
Relena managed to push the strange butterflies in her stomach aside for most of the reception. Held at the town's nicest restaurant, it was a beautiful dinner, followed by dancing. After Millardo and Lucrezia's first dance, Relena felt a tap on her bare shoulder.   
  
"Will you dance with me, Relena?" Quatre's question was simple, but somehow still made Relena's head spin.   
  
She set her napkin next to her plate and stood up. Smoothing down the full, pale blue skirt of her dress, Relena nodded. "I think...I'd like to."   
  
On the dance floor, with Quatre's strong hand on her waist, Relena was very aware of the eyes watching them. Millardo's held approval. Lucrezia's, concern, but understanding. Duo's...Relena smiled. Duo's eyes were completely on the bridesmaid with whom he was sharing a good bit of flirting.   
  
They moved together with grace, and Relena certainly wasn't unaware of how well they complimented each other, physically. Two beautiful blondes; a dream to look at. Her fingers curled around the back of his neck.   
  
"Quatre," she began.  
  
At the same time, he started, "Relena."  
  
She smiled. "Go ahead. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to say."  
  
Quatre took a breath. "It was a lovely wedding."  
  
"It was." She glanced over at her brother. "I haven't seen him this happy since before Mom and Dad died." Relena let out a soft chuckle. "I have to admit...I feel a little lost now. It's been Millardo and I for so long. As much as I adore Lucy, I'm going to have to share him now."   
  
"He'll always be your brother."  
  
"That's true." Unknowingly, Relena's fingers danced through the short hairs on the back of his head. He drew in a little breath. "Are you all right, Quatre?"  
  
He nodded. "I'm fine." After a moment, he cleared his throat. "Relena, we need to talk."  
  
"Talk? Is something wrong?"  
  
"No, not at all. It's just..." He stopped dancing and gathered her hands into his. "Can we go somewhere private?"  
  
"Um...there's the balcony." Relena pointed across the room to the open double doors that spilled out into the inky night.   
  
Quatre immediately started leading her out of the room. As they walked, Relena managed to catch Duo's eye. He winked before returning to his bridesmaid.   
  
Once outside, Quatre led her to the most remote corner, far away from any other guests who were enjoying the warm summer night. "Relena," he began again. "We've known each other for quite awhile now."   
  
"Almost three years," she replied.   
  
He gave an emphatic nod. "And in that time...we've certainly been through a lot."   
  
Relena glanced down at her hands. "Yes. We have."  
  
"The thing is...well, you know I'd do anything for you, Relena." Quatre rubbed the back of his neck, where only minutes earlier, her fingers had been innocently arousing him. "I've tried not to overwhelm you with that because I understand all the pain you've been through. But watching the wedding today..." He stopped.   
  
"Quatre, what are you..."  
  
She was cut off abruptly. "Relena, I need to know if you're ready for what I'm about to ask you."   
  
Relena swallowed, but her throat was suddenly drier than a desert. "If I'm ready? How do I know if I'm ready...until I know what you're going to ask me?"  
  
Quatre conceded. After a long moment of gathering his courage, he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and drew out a small, velvet box. "I love you. I've loved you for a long time. So, this isn't really all that out of the blue. I need to know if you're ready to let me be in your life. If you say yes, you'll never be lost again, I promise." He took a breath. "Relena Peacecraft...will you marry me?"  
  
The diamond was fourteen carats, circled with sapphires that reminded Relena all too much of Heero's eyes. Relena's life suddenly came down to one choice. With one word, she would decide her future. Could she make that choice? Or was she content to cling to the past?   
  
With shaking fingers, she slowly pulled the ring out of its velvet nest and slipped it onto her hand. She made her choice with a clear, unmistakable,   
  
"Yes."  
  
****  
  
The jungle was both enemy and ally. Foe and friend. It cut into flesh as well as it concealed it. Endless, thick and dark, the jungle was entrapment and freedom.   
  
But a prison of twisted trees and biting branches was nothing compared to the underground maze from which he ran. The jungle had no knives, no guns, no whips. It could provide food, something almost unheard of in the hell below ground. For this reason, he could feel every bump in his ribs.   
  
Legs weak from malnutrition and weeks spent without motion carried him, although his path was unknown. It was sheer determination, a survival instinct so fundamental, that kept him going at all. His face...merely touching it hurt. Burns so long untreated still festered there. He held one hand over his left cheek to keep insects away from the raw flesh.   
  
The jungle slapped his bare, emaciated torso; his only protection, a pair of tattered, green pants. He ignored his fresh wounds. They were no worse than twenty hits from a bamboo switch across his back. No worse than broken fingers, bloody noses, bruised kneecaps.   
  
There was noise all through in the jungle, dripping down from the trees, pushing up from the ground. He stopped to take it in, his eyes wide as he searched the area around him. He changed direction, to throw off any trail he might have left.   
  
He was growing more weak with every moment. Weakness, cause for a beating. But there was no longer a guard with a Chinese-supplied weapon, eager to carry it out. If he moved quickly, found whatever it was his instincts told him to find, there never would be again.   
  
Hours passed with nothing but impenetrable jungle ahead of him, behind him, over him. Just when he thought he couldn't go on, the trees abruptly ended.   
  
"Identify yourself!"  
  
A gun was pressed into the good side of his face. He stared straight ahead and lifted his hands.   
  
"I said identify yourself, motherfucker!" The man dug the barrel into his cheek.   
  
He held his hands up, but could not say anything. His tongue refused to work.  
  
"Blue eyes..." Some of the pressure on his cheek let up, but the gun still didn't drop. "What's your name, soldier? I don't see any dogtags on you." There was a long pause. "Did you hear me? What's your damn name?"  
  
He turned his head to see the dark-skinned American who held him at gunpoint; his body still refused to cooperate. The thoughts, the memories, the words themselves were all there. But after everything he had been through since the night the explosion claimed him, he could not get them out.  
  
"Come on, man." The black soldier lowered his weapon and reached for his arm. He jumped back, prepared to defend himself. "Easy there. I ain't gonna hurt you." He let the man take his arm. "Shit, boy..." The soldier shook his head. "They did a real number on you."   
  
His legs, like his mouth, failed him; gave in to exhaustion, collapsing to the ground. He didn't regain consciousness until he was on a pallet in the back of an Army truck, heading, he hoped, for a hospital.  
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	14. We Can Change the World

Disclaimer: Standard stuff.  
  
Author's Notes: I hope yall continue to like the story, cause I had a lot of fun writing it.   
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
"So, your brother's bound and gagged and they've chained him to a chair. Won't you please come to Chicago, just to sing? In a land that's known as Freedom, how can such a thing be fair? Won't you please come to Chicago, for the help that we can bring? We can change the world, rearrange the world. It's dying...to get better." -Joe Nash  
  
****  
  
Lo Ke, Vietnam  
  
June, 1968  
  
Sally rummaged through the supply closet of the M*A*S*H unit, a clipboard in one hand and a scowl on her pretty features. She might have been a full-fledged doctor with several years of field experience, but the US Army medical division was a confirmed boys club. And supply inventory had been deemed a woman's job.   
  
She pulled out a box of individually packaged scalpels and counted out fifteen. Marking it as something that would need to be ordered, Sally moved on. She was just about finished estimating rolls of bandages, when her thoughts strayed from the menial task at hand.   
  
It hadn't taken her long, she thought, mentally pinching herself, to think about him. Wufei, the man out of whom she had dug two bullets...and with whom she had spent three incredible nights before he was shipped back to the States, honorably discharged with a Purple Heart for his injuries.   
  
In the pocket of her fatigues was his address stateside; he hadn't been able to swallow enough pride to tell her that he wanted to meet as soon as she returned, but she had quickly learned to read between the hard lines he presented. And for that reason, she kept the little piece of paper. Her furlough was coming up; nothing would be more refreshing than a hot interlude with Wufei.  
  
Something between them had just clicked, although he had fought it every step of the way. And just when she had been about to write him off as a woman-hating asshole, he had appeared in her private tent one night, (as the only female doctor in the mobile unit, she enjoyed such perks) and made love to her until dawn. Sally had had lovers in the past, but no one had ever been able to make her body sing like Wufei could simply by looking at her. And when they were naked, beneath the heavy Army blankets...  
  
She shook her head and focused on her clipboard. "Fifteen hundred feet...that should last another few weeks." With a sigh, she closed up the closet. It was time to move into the operating rooms, to check the loose supplies.   
  
"Hey! Is there a doctor here anywhere?"  
  
Sally frowned and stepped out of the supply tent. A young soldier, covered in a fresh layer of sweat and dirt, stood in front of her. "What's the matter, Private?"  
  
"There's a guy the rest of my squad is bringing in. He's in pretty bad shape." The boy rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. "Can you take a look at him?"   
  
"Of course. The exam rooms are just through here." Sally started towards the long tent. There were only a half-dozen patients that day; it was no problem finding a bed. In a few minutes, the first soldier reappeared with several of his friends, carrying a skinny man.   
  
The soldier, covered in bruises, cuts, scrapes and scars that indicated the wounds were nothing new and a horrible napalm burn down the far side of his left cheek, along his hairline, was mostly unconscious as he was laid down. Sally pulled her stethoscope from around her neck and listened to his chest. "Good breath sounds. Pulse..." She picked up his wrist. "Weak, but steady."   
  
"We found him out in the jungle. He's not a native," one of the other soldiers assured her.  
  
"In other words, it's okay to save him?" Rolling her eyes, Sally waved over a nurse. "Start an IV drip. He's dehydrated and malnourished." She turned to the men. "Do we know his name? Anything about him?"  
  
They lifted their shoulders. "No dog tags. Probably an escaped POW. He could be anyone. G.I. or flyboy. Anyone," one man said, backing up. "Thanks, Doc." The others followed him out of the tent.  
  
"Great." Sally looked down at her new, mysterious patient. His broken skin was pale, his body whittled down to its skeleton, but there was an air of strength to this man. "Well...I guess a name will have to wait. For now, let's just get you back into the land of the living."  
  
****  
  
North Carolina State University  
August, 1968  
  
"What a zoo! I can't believe other chapters of SDS would act this way!!" Curled against Quatre's chest, Relena watched the flashing images on the large television set that filled up the far end of his bedroom. "Are you still sorry we didn't go?"  
  
Quatre rubbed her back through the thin material of her blouse. "Not anymore. But who knew it would descend into this sort of madness? And besides....there will always be other Democratic conventions. In another four years, but..."  
  
She cut him off with a fluffy pillow to the face. He laughed. "Don't you try to guilt me, Quatre Winner." Sitting up on the bed, Relena gave him a look of mock severity. "If you wanted to go that badly, I would have agreed and you know it."   
  
"I'm glad we didn't go." He pulled her back into the warm circle of his arms. "It's a war zone in Chicago right now, and if you were ever hurt again..." Quatre stopped to kiss the top of her head. "I'd rather vote for Nixon than see you in another hospital bed."  
  
Relena continued to take in the nightly news and the horrible images from Chicago, but her mind was on the steady beat of Quatre's heart beneath her ear. On the hand curled over his shoulder, her engagment ring sparkled as brightly as it had the night she had accepted it. She let out a little sigh. If only the actual engagment was as shining as its symbol.   
  
As if sensing her unrest, Quatre covered her hand with his and tightened the arm around her shoulders. "What are you thinking about?"   
  
"Nothing really." She lifted her chin to give him a quick kiss. "I just hope no one's hurt in all those riots."   
  
Quatre nodded. After a moment, he extracted himself from their embrace and got up to change channels. After flipping through all three bands several times, he gave up and switched off the set. "There is officially nothing on," he announced.  
  
Relena stretched her arms, the soft cotton of her blouse sliding over her skin. "That's all right. I should probably get back to my place anyway."  
  
"Here..." Quatre helped her to her feet and once they were face to face, gave her a slow kiss. "Something to take home with you." There was a long pause as they watched each other. After a moment, Relena averted her eyes, unable to take the pure emotion emanating from his. "Relena," he began. "I've been meaning to talk to you about something."  
  
"What is it? Sweetie," she added.   
  
He took her hand, the hand that bore his ring. "I hope this doesn't sound too pushy...but I'm going to graduate in the spring. And...I want to start my life with you, Relena."  
  
She licked her suddenly dry lips. "Of course..."  
  
"So, I have to wonder....why haven't we set a date for our wedding?"   
  
Relena's palms itched. It was a question she herself had mulled over endlessly, but always placed on the back burner. Somehow, it seemed much safer to be engaged. Were there an actual date looming in the future, everything would be quite different. But it was obvious that Quatre needed more. He had done so much for her; he deserved more than a peck on the cheek every night and the vague promise of a wedding in the future.   
  
She glanced past him to the bed, only slightly rumpled where they had been laying on it. He deserved something more. She found him attractive. He would be a tender and considerate lover. She was still on the Pill.  
  
"Quatre..." Relena put a hand on his shoulder. "I just need a little more time. We'll be married...don't worry about that. For now..." She kissed him, her tongue dipping into his mouth. Her hands slipped into his shirt, sliding along his smooth, lightly muscled chest.   
  
He cursed softly when her mouth moved down to the nape of his neck. "Relena, you don't have to..."  
  
"I want to," she insisted. It wasn't a very big lie...  
  
Quatre let her lead them back to the bed. Her fingers nimbly undid his shirt buttons as they kissed; his hands slid up and down her back, eager to touch everything that until now he had placed off-limits out of respect for her.   
  
Relena pulled his shirt off his arms and started on her own, in a rush to push things beyond the point of no return, lest her emotions catch up with her. Within minutes, her bare breasts pressed against the warmth of his chest, and she was gently pushing him onto the bed. Straddling his waist, she kissed him, hard and fast, unlike any kiss they had ever shared. Only Heero had kissed her like this.   
  
When her hands slid between his abdomen and his pants, Quatre broke the kiss. "Relena...stop!"  
  
She looked down at him, confusion on her flushed face. "What's wrong? I thought you'd like this."  
  
"I would. But not like this." Quatre pulled her hands away from his body, kissing her lips gently. "This isn't how we're supposed to make love for the first time, Relena."   
  
Relena sat back on her heels. Suddenly feeling far too exposed and embarrassed, she crossed her arms over her chest. "What do you mean? This is generally how it goes, Quatre."  
  
Sitting up, he stroked her cheek with one finger. "I can't make love to you if you're making love to someone else."  
  
"I'm not," she whispered a second later. "You're not Heero, Quatre. Heero is gone. You're the only person I want to..." She stopped, unable to force out the lie anymore.   
  
Quatre's palm cupped her chin. "Can we wait until we're married? Or is that completely square?"  
  
Relena lowered her head; she was on the verge of crying. "I don't deserve you, Quatre. I really, really don't."  
  
"That's crazy." He pulled her against his chest. "Trust me, this is all my brain speaking. My body is several steps behind, and still thinking that you have the most beautiful breasts in the world." Quatre smiled when she laughed through her tears. "I can wait to make love to you, Relena. Even if I don't have a date to look forward to."  
  
She thought for a moment before sitting up to see him better. "How do you feel about spring weddings?"   
  
"March?"  
  
"April. April...um...tenth."  
  
Quatre nodded. "April tenth it is." This time, he held her whole face between his hands as he kissed her. "I'm going to make you so happy, Relena. I swear it."   
  
She rested her chin on his shoulder and closed her eyes to hold back hot tears. A date. It made everything so official. One part of her life was now completely over. As Quatre continued to hold her, Relena said one final goodbye to the lost past, and looked with blank eyes towards the future.  
  
****  
  
December 31, 1968  
  
Vietnam  
  
Hilde had not been looking forward to her transfer. Not only was she being sent to a remote M*A*S*H unit now that her nursing training was nearly complete, but it was an area far away from the 23rd Infantry, in which Trowa served. It seemed as though their year long tryst had come to an abrupt end.  
  
The most upsetting thing was how much it didn't really upset her. A year of sexual relations, sometimes as much as five times a month, and yet she had formed no emotional attachment to Trowa Barton. Sex was sex. Love was something else entirely. And she hadn't felt love since she waved to Duo from the train window, three long years earlier.   
  
She arrived in the tiny town of Lo Ke in the last few hours of 1968. Her driver dropped her off with a wink, good wishes and a tiny bottom pinch, before barreling off into the jungle, hasty to get back to Saigon for the New Year's parties. As Hilde looked around the crudely erected hospital and the tents perched around it, she let out a deep sigh.   
  
"Welcome to Lo Ke." A tall woman with dark blonde braids who wore oversized men's fatigues approached her. "Are you our new nurse?"  
  
"Hilde Schbeiker." She held out her hand. "Just in from Saigon."  
  
"Dr. Sally Po," the woman said, shaking it. "We're grateful to have you, Hilde."  
  
"I heard you had a shortage of nurses. I'm glad to be here. To help." Not a total lie, she told herself.   
  
Sally started walking towards the largest building. "I won't lie to you. We lost a handful of nurses and a few doctors during an air attack two months ago. They targeted the personnel quarters." She paused. "It's dangerous out here, Hilde. If you're not prepared for that, tell me now."   
  
"I'm here to help," Hilde stated. This time, she didn't have to lie.   
  
"Good." Sally gestured her into the main part of the hospital unit. "You didn't ask to go home for Christmas, so I already like you. We're all pitching in a hundred and ten percent here, and there isn't any room for anyone who can't do that."  
  
Hilde found herself in a huge tent-like structure, at least a hundred-fifty feet long and thirty feet wide. Down each side was a row of beds; almost every one was filled with a wounded soldier. "As you can see," Sally continued. "We get most of the field wounded for this sector. I'm going to start you off on triage whenever the next big wave comes in. For now, grab a mask and some gloves and start a chart to keep track of the patients you see for yourself. We'll make the rounds together until you feel comfortable enough on your own."  
  
After she was suited up, Sally started down the rows, checking on patients, adjusting IV bags, talking and sometimes even flirting with the men who were well enough to do so. A fresh face as pretty as Hilde's did not go unnoticed; by the time they made it down the entire right-side row, Hilde had at least five marriage proposals.   
  
The severity of the wounds she saw shocked Hilde. In Saigon, she had seen what she thought were atrocities, but nothing like what she was exposed to after merely an hour with Sally. Napalm burns were the worst, she discovered, leaving the skin wrinkled and inflamed. They were also the hardest to treat, especially if the napalm had stayed on the skin for too long. Some of the men had the burns over ninety percent of their bodies; it had been dropped onto them from above. Others were fortunate to only have a small patch, from a hand-packed grenade.   
  
Two hours into the rounds, Sally stopped in front of a particular bed. "And this is our mystery patient." She pointed to the bed's occupant. He was sitting in a wheelchair with his back to them, staring out a window flap.   
  
"Mystery patient?" Hilde asked, squinting to see better in the weak light.   
  
"No dog tags. Found wandering in the jungle." Sally hugged a clipboard to her chest. "He doesn't say much."  
  
"Amnesia?"  
  
Sally shook her head. "I don't think so. He seems to know his rank because he won't salute to anyone lower than a Corporal, he sings along at taps, and he can tell you anything at all about baseball. The memories are there; I think he just can't get them out. All the torture..." She sighed. "When he came to us, he was so underweight...you could see every bone in his body. But he's filled out now. All of his injuries are healed. The napalm burn on his face isn't even that bad anymore."   
  
Hilde smiled at her. "You seem to have taken a particular interest in him, Dr. Po."  
  
"Well, he's an enigma." Sally's expression softened. "I can't help but think there's someone out there who's missing him. He's someone's son or husband...and there's no way they'll ever know he's here until he can bring himself to face everything. It's frustrating."   
  
She glanced back at the mystery patient. "How do you get his attention without knowing his name?"  
  
"Some of the nurses have taken to calling him Matthew." Sally cleared her throat. "Matthew...I'd like to you meet one of the new nurses who's going to be taking care of you."   
  
Hilde patiently waited as the man turned his wheelchair around. When he was facing them, Hilde dropped her own clipboard. Her hands flew to her mouth. "Oh my god!! Heero!!"  
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	15. To Everything There Is A Season

Disclaimer: All that usual jazz.  
  
Author's Notes: Thank you, thank you, thank you;) Ya'll are great!  
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
To everything (turn, turn, turn), there is a season (turn, turn, turn), and a time for every purpose, under Heaven. A time to be born, a time to die. A time to plant, a time to reap. A time to kill, a time to heal. A time to laugh, a time to weep." -The Byrds  
  
****  
  
Lo Ke, Vietnam  
  
December 31, 1968  
  
Hilde patiently waited as the man turned his wheelchair around. When he was facing them, Hilde dropped her own clipboard. Her hands flew to her mouth. "Oh my god!! Heero!!"  
  
Sally whipped her head around. "You know him?!?"   
  
"We went to high school together...oh my god..." She ran forward, dropping to her knees in front of Heero's wheelchair. "Jesus, Heero...what happened to you?!"  
  
He stared at her, his deep blue eyes blank, without a spark of recognition. But after a long time, he blinked. "Hilde?"  
  
Tears streamed down her cheeks. "That's right, Heero! It's me...you remember!" She threw her arms around his torso. "Heero...I just...I can't believe it's you..."  
  
His chin settled on the top of her head. "Hilde," he repeated. Heero's eyes closed as a single tear slid down his cheek. "Hilde...and Duo and..." He stopped, looking up at Sally. "I'm...Heero. Corporal Heero Yuy...of the 23rd Infantry." He swallowed. "I've wanted to say that...for so long."  
  
Sally smiled and brushed away her own tears. "Heero, eh? It's fitting. Better than Matthew." She frowned, suddenly recognizing the name. "Wait a minute. I'll be back." With that, she ran off, heading for the medical records.   
  
Hilde drew back and ran her hands over his face. The wrinkled scar of the napalm burn ran down the hairline on his left cheek. His features were older, more rugged, but he was Heero, exactly as she remembered him. "What happened to you?" she asked again.   
  
He frowned, thinking back and assembling all the jumbled pieces. "We were attacked...something exploded all around me." Reaching up, he touched his scar. "I woke up being dragged through the jungle."   
  
"They took you prisoner," she supplied.  
  
Heero nodded. "I had to get out of there, Hilde." His hands grasped her slender arms. "I killed a guard...I cut his throat open..."  
  
She shook her head. "It's all right, Heero. Whatever you had to do to get back to us...it's all right. Oh, god...we have to get in contact with Relena right away!"  
  
"Relena," he whispered. "Relena..."  
  
Hilde wiped under her eyes. "God only knows what they told her happened to you."  
  
He made a move to sit up. "Relena...I have to get to Relena."  
  
"Careful! You're still healing, Heero."  
  
"Relena." Heero's brow furred. "I have to tell her..."   
  
"What do you have to tell her, Heero?" Hilde asked.   
  
"The letter!" Heero shouted. "The letter....it was all wrong." He paused. "What year is it?"  
  
Hilde glanced at her watch. "As of two minutes ago, 1969."   
  
His fist curled up. "It's been three years, then." He started to sit up again. "Relena..."  
  
"Heero, sit down." Hilde gave him a stern look through her lingering tears. "There's so much stuff we have to do first. But the most important thing is making sure you're well. You can't go home if you're not."   
  
"Home," he repeated. "Home to Relena."  
  
Hilde nodded. "Home to Peacecraft. You and me both, Heero." She said a silently apology to Sally who had yet to return. It looked as though she wouldn't be signing on for a permenant position. "We left them at the same time. It's only right we should come back the same way."  
  
****  
  
Peacecraft  
February, 1969  
  
"Duo!!" Relena stuck her head out of the bathroom door and shouted down the stairs. "Can you get the phone? My hair is still wet!"  
  
"I don't think the person on the other end will mind," he called back.   
  
"Duo...it might be Quatre. Or the caterer. We were supposed to discuss cream puffs today." The phone rang again. "Please, Duo?"   
  
With a great, exaggerated sigh, he stood up and went to answer the phone in the kitchen. Somehow it seemed that whenever he came over to her place on these weekends home to escape his parents' place, he always ended up talking to a caterer or the florist or the person sewing Relena's dress. The Peacecraft house had become wedding central and Duo was smack dab in the middle of it all.   
  
He picked up the phone on the eighth ring. "Thank you for calling the House of the Wedding. I'm Duo, your tour guide for the moment. How can I help you?"  
  
There was a long pause on the other end. "Hello?" Duo began again.   
  
"Um...hello. Duo."   
  
He waved his hand, although it would speed the conversation along. "Are you the caterer by any chance? Because Relena's violently against cream puffs. We want chocolate at this wedding," he lied. "Lots and lots of chocolate."   
  
The female voice on the other end spoke after another second. "Chocolate?"   
  
Duo frowned. "Okay, so you're not the caterer. Who are you?"   
  
"I'm...umm...well, that is to say, I'm..." A deep breath was drawn in. "I assume I'm talking to the...you know...the um...?"   
  
"The groom?" Duo supplied. "No, I'm just the best man. I take care of the minor details while Relena and Quatre nitpick over the guest list and their vows. Like the ones that've been written for hundreds of years aren't good enough." He sighed. "Look, if you want to leave a message for one of them..."  
  
"Actually, I am the caterer. I was just...um...confirming things in my...uh...catering book. When is this all taking place again?"  
  
Duo rolled his eyes. "April tenth," he said, extremely slowly. "Two-thirty in the afternoon at the country club. Have you got that all down, sweetie?"   
  
There was a slight, sad chuckle on the other end. "I've got it. Duo. Don't worry....the caterers will be there."   
  
After he hung up the phone, Duo shook his head. Relena had certainly hired a strange woman to provide the food for her wedding. Strange....but familiar at the same time. He was still puzzling over this when Relena came into the kitchen, her hair up in large rollers.  
  
"Was that the caterer?"   
  
He nodded. "They'll be there. Hopefully with a surprise." He grinned, picturing mountains of chocolate.   
  
"Wonderful." Relena put her hands on her hips. "Just what I need at my wedding. Surprises."  
  
****  
  
Vietnam  
  
Hilde set down the headphones and winked at the unit's radio operator. "Thanks, Wheez." She kissed his cheek. "I appreciate it."   
  
The short, stubby petty officer blushed profusely. "Anything for you, Hilde."  
  
She emerged from the communications tent to find Heero, already waiting for her. "Did you reach her?" he immediately asked.   
  
Hilde studied him for a minute. Two months had done more than just bring clarity to his temporarily jumbled memories. With seeing Relena again his driving goal, Heero had pushed himself every single day. He had gained more weight, and even managed to get back some of his muscle tone. His skin was no longer pale, his hair had returned to its former thickness. The scar down his cheek was still noticeable, but it, like the slash marks on his torso, was a war wound with which he would have to live.   
  
His Prussian blue eyes were full of uncharacteristic eagerness. Hilde's heart almost broke. How could she tell him that Relena was to be married to another man? She wouldn't, she suddenly decided. For the same reasons she hadn't revealed who she was to Duo, she would sneak Heero into America. News of this magnitude had to be told in person.   
  
"No, I wasn't able to," she told him. It was hard to take the disappointment on his face. "But don't worry," Hilde quickly assured him. "We are going home. We just have to be there before April tenth..."  
  
"Hilde?"  
  
She turned glanced over Heero's shoulder to see Trowa Barton headed straight for them, fresh off the latest truck of supplies. "Trowa?"   
  
Heero turned around suddenly, and Trowa stopped completely in his tracks. "Oh my fucking god," the taller man breathed. "Heero..."  
  
Hilde's jaw dropped a few feet. "How do you know his name?"  
  
The question went unanswered for a minute. Trowa approached his friend as though he were a ghost. "How did you..." He started again. "We had you down as KIA, man. What the fuck...?" He began laughing.   
  
Heero broke into a smile. "Trowa Barton. They made you a Corporal."  
  
"Yeah, but you left damn big shoes to fill." The two men clasped hands, shaking vigorously. Trowa shook his head. "Wufei's gonna bust a gut when he finds out."   
  
"Where is he?" Heero asked.  
  
"Took two bullets during that attack...the attack we thought we lost you in. Got shipped home for his trouble."   
  
Hilde shook her head and pushed her body between the two men. "Okay, just how the fuck do you two know each other?"  
  
Heero gave her a strange look. "How the fuck do you know him?"   
  
"I was wondering the same fucking thing, Hilde," Trowa added.   
  
"Oh..." Hilde covered her face with her hands, half amused, half embarrassed. "This is going to be a really long story, I can just tell."  
  
****  
  
"So. You and Hilde."  
  
Trowa pushed the beans on his dinner tray around with his fork. "She told you?"  
  
Heero sipped his coffee. He had never liked the drink before, but since being returned to life, he had a renewed appreciation for everything. "She didn't have to. The guilty look when I mentioned Duo was enough."  
  
"Duo?"  
  
"Do you have feelings for her?" he asked, ignoring the question.  
  
"No." His friend set down his fork with a sigh. "You probably want to kick my ass for that, don't you? Well, Hilde and I agreed a long time ago that we would only have..."  
  
"Sex?"  
  
"I know she's your friend, but she's also a woman, and I didn't do anything that she didn't..."  
  
Heero cut him off again. "What happened, or is happening, between you and Hilde is none of my business." He took another sip of coffee, savoring the strong flavor.   
  
But Trowa pressed on. "Because you know, we're halfway across the world from everything familiar...and almost everyone we know. Like Catherine. I think being here..." He lifted his shoulders. "It's sort of like all bets are off. No rules. Anything goes."   
  
"Still...anymore justifications and I'll have to kick your ass just on principle."   
  
There was a pause before Trowa started laughing. "Fuck, we missed you, Yuy. You know, Chang never believed you were gone. They closed your file, stamped you KIA, and sent out the telegram, but he wouldn't accept it. He even tried to get this doctor, Dr. Po, to talk to her superiors and have them re-open your case, to look for your sorry ass out there. And she had almost agreed, right before they discharged him. Of course, she would have done anything for him."  
  
"Wait." Heero set down his mug. "How does Chang know my doctor?"  
  
Trowa lifted an eyebrow. "Long story. I'll tell you someday. Maybe, after this is over, we can all get together and...I don't know...grill hamburgers. Play baseball. Something really American."  
  
"You just better be there, Barton." He picked up his coffee again. "You get out in August, right?"  
  
"Yeah. I think three tours of duty are just about all the Army deserves of me. But if I get bored before then, I could just stub my toe and go home like you two losers."   
  
Heero smiled. "Take care of yourself, man. Your Catherine's waiting for you."  
  
"I will. And what about you?"  
  
"What about me?"  
  
Trowa pulled a cigarette out of his uniform pocket. "Is Relena still waiting for you?"  
  
"She thinks I'm dead," Heero replied, flatly. "Even so...I have to believe that she is." He watched Trowa light up. "It's the only thing that's keeping me going."  
  
"Are you going to let her know before or after you knock on her front door?" Trowa asked, exhaling.   
  
Heero blinked smoke out of his eyes. "We tried once. But I don't know if I want to try again." He touched the wrinkled burn scar on the side of his face. "I don't want to scare her. At the same time, I suddenly don't want to tell her something like this over the phone. Or in a letter."  
  
His friend nodded. "I can see that." He handed Heero his cigarette and stood up from the canteen table.  
  
"Where are you going?"   
  
Trowa scratched his stubbled cheek. "I'm leaving tomorrow. Won't be back until long after you two ship out..."  
  
It took a moment, but Heero finally caught on. "Go. Have a good time. Don't mention the word 'Duo'."   
  
Giving him a puzzled look, Trowa started out of the canteen, heading for the nurses' tents. Heero looked at the cigarette between his fingers before he extinguished it in the remainder of Trowa's beans. It wouldn't be good to pick up any bad habits. Relena hated cigarettes.   
  
****  
  
"Tell me there's nothing to be nervous about." Hilde looked at the man in the plane seat next to her. "Heero? Hello?"  
  
Heero glanced up from what he was reading. "Did you know that Jackie Kennedy got remarried?"  
  
"Since when do you care about what Jackie Kennedy does?"  
  
He closed up the magazine. "Since I've been doing everything possible to keep my mind occupied."  
  
Hilde sighed and took Heero's hand. "I'm scared to death to see Duo again. Especially after..." She squirmed slightly. "Well, you know...about Trowa."  
  
"I do know." Heero looked at her. "But if you're expecting me to judge you, I won't."  
  
"Why not? I might if you had been sleeping with a nurse, or something."   
  
Heero lifted his shoulders. "As far as I'm concerned, what happened over there, stays over there."   
  
After a long moment, Hilde smiled. "You're a good friend, Heero."   
  
"You do still care about Duo, don't you?" He waited for her to nod, which she did so, but with a heavy head. "We're all going to be together again soon. You and Duo." Heero settled his head back into the cushioned seat. "Me and Relena. The way it's supposed to be."  
  
Hilde bit her lip. If ever there were a time to tell him about Relena's upcoming wedding...this surely wasn't it. "Of course. The way it's supposed to be."   
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	16. Hey Jude

Disclaimer: Characters not mine, just borrowing, etc, etc.  
  
Author's Notes: Thanks for hanging in there with the story. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, if you get my drift. Also, as someone noted in a review, the last chapter's song was a verse from the Bible, but it was also turned into a very, very famous song in the 60's by the Byrds, which has been featured in almost every movie that takes place in this particular time period. I'm not a Christian, but I love the song. I think it speaks a universal Truth, rather than just a Christian one. On that note, enjoy the story;)  
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth   
  
****  
  
"Hey Jude, don't be afraid. You were made to go out and get her. The minute you let her under your skin, then you begin to make it better. Hey Jude, don't let me down. You have found her, now go and get her. Remember to let her into your heart. Then you can start to make it better." -The Beatles   
  
****  
  
Peacecraft  
April 9, 1969  
  
The town hadn't changed much. To Hilde's utter amazement, it didn't bother her. What she had been fairly dying to escape four years earlier, she now came home to with open arms. This was the place of her birth; the happiest moments of her life had happened within its limits.   
  
Here was where Duo lived. Here, hopefully, was the rest of her life.  
  
She and Heero took two rooms at a local hotel; completely unbeknownst to Hilde, the same hotel in which Heero and Relena had held their all-too brief physical relationship. After checking in, Hilde retreated to her room to take a long shower. When she was dressed again, she knocked on Heero's door  
  
He answered after a moment. "Are we going to Relena's now?"  
  
Hilde ran her fingers through her freshly dried hair. "Heero...tell you what. Why don't you get some rest while I go out and...um...get us something to eat. What do you say?"  
  
"Fine," Heero said. In retrospect, Hilde would realize that he agreed far too easily for a determined Heero Yuy who hadn't seen the woman he loved in three years.   
  
But right then, Hilde was far too focused. She looked good. Her hair, which she had kept short all through her time in Vietnam, curled around her lightly made-up face. The striped mini-dress made her very aware of her hips and breasts...Duo's favorite things in the world.   
  
She walked the whole way to Duo's parents' house; the route was still fresh in her memory. How many times had she snuck over to see him when his parents were either out or so drunk they were passed out? He had never said how much it all hurt him, but the way he had clung to her after they made love and silently cried on her shoulder had told her enough.   
  
It only took ten minutes to reach the small, dilapidated house. The lights were on; Hilde gathered every bit of her courage, smoothed down her dress and knocked on the front door.   
  
The door swung open a second later and Hilde came face to face with the greatest love of her life. He filled the doorframe with his jovial presence. His braid, still intact after all that time, lay over his shoulder. A box of cereal was in his hand.   
  
He stopped cold the moment they made eye contact. Seconds ticked by like hours. Finally, Hilde spoke. "Hi, Duo. I'm home."  
  
****  
  
Heero waited five minutes, until he could no longer see Hilde walking away, before he grabbed his uniform coat and left the hotel room. It was hard to stay even those five minutes; the room brought back too many memories. He could actually close his eyes and remember Relena's face looking up at him with complete trust and love as he entered her for the first time. Everything about her was exquisite and he would only truly be healed once she was in his arms again.  
  
He sorely missed his car as he walked the long path to the upscale section of town in which he and Relena had grown up together. He passed by his own house, only stopping for a second to look it over. His mother needed to have the news of his arrival broken to her easily; he would not show up on her doorstep right away. But Relena...  
  
He needed to see her. His fingers itched from wanting to touch her. For so long, she had been a hazy fragment of his memories, jarred by months of torture and starvation. But she had been there, all along. A beacon through the worst hell imaginable. And he had no patience anymore.   
  
After all, she was his girl. Yesterday, today and for the rest of his life.  
  
****  
  
For possibly the first instance in his entire life, Duo couldn't speak. Not that he could have thought of anything to say, anyway. Just looking at her after so long...it wiped every cool comment, every smooth line, any possibility of a joke right out of his mind.   
  
She was beautiful. In high school, she had been the cutest thing ever. His pixie. But four years had turned cuteness into true, adult beauty. Four years, he repeated to himself. Four years without a word.   
  
"Well..." he began, once his voice came back to him. "Welcome home, Prodigal Daughter."   
  
Hilde looked down at her platform shoes. "I hoped you wouldn't be bitter, Duo."  
  
He laughed as he dropped a handful of cornflakes into his mouth. "You hope for a lot."  
  
"Duo...I'm so sorry I hurt you." Hilde looked up towards the evening sky, to hold back tears. "There are so many things I'm sorry for." He chewed and swallowed, but said nothing. "And you have every right to hate me, but right now I need to tell you..."  
  
"I don't hate you, Hilde." Duo closed up his cereal box. "Maybe I did a little when my letters started coming back 'return to sender', but you know...you made your choice. And I wasn't it. I can't hate you for that."  
  
Hilde shook her head, no longer fighting the tears. "You have no idea...the things that happened to me out there. But I still can't regret actually going, Duo. It was something I had to do!"  
  
"I know. You had to get away from everything. From me. I don't hate you. You can have a clear conscience, okay?"  
  
"It wasn't you, Duo." Hilde bit her full lower lip. "When I got out there and realized I wasn't star material....I couldn't face you. The letters that I got...God, I missed you so much. I just couldn't swallow my pride. I had no money, no jobs, and eventually, nowhere to live. I took drugs, Duo. I did things under their influence...don't you think I wished I could come home? It just wasn't that easy!"  
  
Duo watched her carefully. "You could have always come home, Hilde. I was always here, waiting."   
  
She wiped at her cheeks. "Then I got the job with the U.S.O. and I found myself in Vietnam. I stayed on to be a nurse and it finally seemed like my life was getting..."  
  
"Wait, you went to Vietnam?" Duo cursed softly. "That's...wow. But you came back."  
  
"Yeah," she whispered.   
  
"Heero didn't." He swallowed. "Heero died over there, Hilde. God, there's so much you don't know. You think things happened to you? Try thinking about what happened to us, the ones who stayed behind! The last four years have been..."  
  
"Duo." Hilde reached for his hand. "I have to tell you something. And you have to believe me."  
  
He frowned. "What is it?"   
  
"Heero. He's alive."   
  
Duo blinked. After a moment, he shook his head. "Hilde, I don't know what you're playing, but..."  
  
"Why would I lie, Duo? You say you don't hate me, but you'd suddenly believe that I would be so cruel as to tell a lie like this?" Hilde leaned in closer to him. "Heero is alive; he's here in Peacecraft with me."  
  
"How did...?" Duo dropped his cereal box to run his fingers through his bangs. "Fucking A....Heero..." He glared at her. "What happened? How is that you...?"  
  
Hilde smiled. "The biggest coincidence ever, Duo. But he is alive. He was held prisoner, tortured and he's come back from it all. And he wants to see Relena."  
  
Duo stared back at her. "Relena is getting married tomorrow."  
  
"I know." Hilde's expression was guilty. "I was the strange caterer that day. I didn't mean to lie, but I just couldn't tell you all of this on the phone."  
  
"Does Heero know about the wedding?" he asked. She shook her head. "Fuck! What a mess!" He sighed and thought for a minute. "I should tell him. I'm the one who was here for it all. Where is he?"  
  
"At the hotel room. He wanted to go see Relena right away, but I told him to..."  
  
Duo slapped his forehead. "You left him alone?! You do realize that he's halfway to Relena's house by now, right?" Duo grabbed the doorknob and stepped onto the porch, locking up the house. "C'mon. If we hurry, we'll get there before Relena passes out."   
  
****  
  
"Quatre, isn't there a rule about not calling your bride on the night before the wedding to bug her about the flowers?" Relena cradled the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she pulled up the sleeves of her wedding dress. "What am I doing?" she repeated his question. "I'm trying on my dress to make sure I haven't gained a pound in the last two days. Yes, you might think that's silly, but you're not trying to fit into white silk, are you?" She laughed at his response. "I'm not so sure it's your style." There was a knock at the door from downstairs. Relena cupped a hand over the receiver. "Can someone get that? I'm not completely dressed. Millardo?"  
  
"I've got it," she heard Lucrezia call out as she descended the stairs.   
  
"Where was I? Oh, yes, the flowers. Don't worry about them. The corsages for the tuxes will delivered to the house before ten tomorrow morning. They promised me. Of course I trust them, and you should too." Performing a juggling act, Relena managed to zip up her dress and keep the phone to her ear. "That was the zipper of my dress," she explained when he inquired after the noise. "It's beautiful." Relena blushed. "You say that when I'm wearing paisley," she said after a moment.  
  
"Relena..." Millardo's voice was muffled through her bedroom door. "Can you come out here for a minute?"  
  
She sighed. "Quatre, I have to go. No, you can't come over later; don't even think it! I'm warning you...." Relena smiled. "Yeah, me too. Goodnight." She set the phone down with a click and stared at her reflection in the mirror. The dress had a high waistline and long skirt with elbow length sleeves, each ending in a pleated fall of sheer material . With her hair down and flowing underneath her veil, the picture she presented was almost perfect.   
  
Millardo knocked again. "Relena, you really need to come here. Now."  
  
Relena shook her head. "I'm coming." After removing only her veil, Relena opened the door. Millardo's face was solemn, but it didn't throw her off. He used to have that look all the time. "What's going on?"   
  
He steered her towards the stairs. "Relena...I want you to take a really deep breath. This is going to be hard to take in and I want to make sure..."  
  
She frowned. "Millardo, I'm sure that whatever it is, I can handle it. I've been putting together a wedding for three hundred of the Winner's closest..." As she reached the bottom of the staircase, Relena's entire body went instantly numb. Her throat closed up.   
  
In the foyer, donned in full military dress uniform, his hair as long and thick as it had been before boot camp, looking up at her with piercing Prussian eyes, was Heero Yuy. Back from the dead.   
  
He was the one to catch her when she fainted a moment later.  
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	17. Some Kind of Wonderful

Disclaimer: For the last time, character names, not mine.   
  
Author's Notes: So now we've come to the end of the road. Enjoy:)   
  
****  
  
Some Kind of Wonderful  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
Duo and Hilde pulled up to the Peacecraft house only to discover the front door wide open. Panicked, Duo jumped out of his beat-up wreck of a car as soon as the engine turned off and ran up the steps. Hilde followed him as fast as she could on platform shoes.   
  
They burst into the foyer. "Relena!" Duo called out. He turned to look into the parlor. Although he had thought he would be prepared to see Heero again, he still took a comical double take upon the sight of his oldest friend on the Peacecraft's parlor couch.   
  
He was cradling Relena's unconscious body against his chest, and to Duo's complete surprise, Millardo was letting him. Heero glanced up. "Duo," he said, as though everything were perfectly normal. "It's good to see you again."  
  
Duo blinked. He felt Hilde's hand squeezing his as he studied Heero's face, specifically the scar down his left cheek. "Dammit...Heero." Duo inhaled deeply. "You've knocked us all on our asses here, man."  
  
A hint of a smile played on Heero's lips. "I suppose I have." His fingers ran through Relena's hair. "She's more beautiful than I remembered."   
  
Millardo cleared his throat. "Heero, there's something you should..."  
  
Duo held up his free hand; he kept the other clasped with Hilde's. "Wait, let me. Please."  
  
Heero looked back and forth between them. "What's going on?"   
  
There was a long pause. "Heero, while you were gone..." Duo hesitated. "Well, it was a long time and things happened that..."  
  
Just then there was a noise behind him from the foyer. Duo turned around and came face to face with Quatre. The groom-to-be smiled brightly. "Hey, what are you doing over here? Are you here to bug Relena, too?" While Duo was desperately trying to think of an answer, Quatre peered over his shoulder into the parlor. His smile immediately fell. "What's going on, Duo?"  
  
Duo threw up his hands. The situation was now completely beyond his control. "Quatre Winner...meet Heero Yuy." Quatre took a step back as Duo turned his attention to Heero. "Heero Yuy. This is Quatre Winner. Relena's fiancee."  
  
Heero's head shot up to see the new arrival. He and Quatre watched each other for a long minute as Duo rambled on, trying to make sense of something that made no sense to anyone.   
  
"...so as you can see, we're all pretty stunned here and I think the only one who might have all the answers..." Duo turned to Hilde. "...is you. Are you going to explain to us all how Heero came back from the dead?"  
  
Hilde opened her mouth to speak, but Quatre cut her off. Pushing past her and Duo, he entered the parlor, hand extended. "Welcome home, Heero."  
  
Heero gave the man a cold stare. "You're engaged to my fiancee?"   
  
Duo closed his eyes. "This is not going to be pretty," he muttered.   
  
"I'm engaged to Relena, yes. For nearly a year now. We're to be married tomorrow." Quatre's smile was tight as he withdrew his hand. He kneeled down next to the couch and reached for Relena. "If you don't mind..."  
  
"I do mind," Heero replied, pulling her closer to his body. "I.." He stopped upon hearing a tiny whimper from the woman in his arms. "Relena..."  
  
"Relena," Quatre said at the same time.   
  
She opened her eyes to two faces staring down at her. The comfortable ocean of Quatre's eyes and the stormy sea of Heero's. "Oh..." Relena breathed. "Heero..."  
  
He smiled softly. "You fainted, baby. I'm so sorry...I shouldn't have shocked you like that."  
  
"You're alive," she whispered, uncomphrending. Her gaze shifted to her fiancee. "Quatre..." Suddenly, her head throbbed. "Oh god..." Relena struggled to sit up in Heero's lap. "This is...it's too much...I can't..."  
  
Millardo seized the opportunity to break up the trio. He gently pulled Relena to her feet and wrapped a strong arm around her. "Listen, there's only so much my sister can take in one night. Now, someone needs to start explaining all of this right now."  
  
Hilde stepped forward. "To make a really long story as short as possible, I found Heero in a M*A*S*H unit in the middle of Vietnam where I had been assigned to be a nurse. He couldn't get all of his memories straight because he'd been a POW for months, tortured and beaten every day." Relena let out a small cry against her brother's shoulder. "Once I saw him, he started to remember everything. And the first thing he wanted to do...was come home. So, here we are." She looked at Duo. "And that's pretty much the whole story."  
  
"We were told you had died," Duo explained to Heero. "How could our illustrious army make such a huge mistake?"  
  
"One of the gooks who dragged me out of the camp during the attack took my dog tags as a souvenir. They never found a body. Easier than having another POW to look for, I guess, assuming that I got caught by a grenade." Heero touched his cheek. "Which I did, just not that badly."   
  
Quatre let out a breath. "Unbelievable..."  
  
Relena stepped away from her brother and walked back over to the sofa on which Heero still sat. "I can't believe...you're alive." Fresh tears slipped down her face, gathering at the notch of her throat. "Heero..."  
  
"I could never die without saying goodbye to you, Relena," he whispered. "That's why I left the way I did...in the middle of the night. If I left things open between us, I knew I wouldn't die."   
  
A sob tore through her throat. To escape the intensity of his stare, she looked back at Quatre. His eyes were red as he swallowed rapidly. "Quatre," she began. "I have no idea what to do."  
  
He stuck his hands in the pockets of his pants for a distraction. "I'm sorry, Relena. I don't know what to tell you. Actually, I do." He shook his head, trying to laugh. "But it's rather biased."  
  
"This is all going so fast...I can't keep up!!" Her chin trembled as her eyes closed. Taking a breath to steady it, she went with her first instinct. "I need to be alone." She opened her eyes and licked her salty lips. No one had moved. "Fine. I'll be alone in my room." Without another word, Relena pushed her way out of the crowded parlor and ran up the stairs. Ran away from the power of Heero's eyes.   
  
Duo whistled after she was gone. "What a fucking day."  
  
"You can say that again," Millardo muttered.  
  
"What a fucking..." Duo was cut off by Hilde's hand squeezing his. The simple motion was so entirely Hilde...he almost gasped with the overwhelming familiarity.   
  
Heero stood up from the couch. "I should go. My mother doesn't know yet." He walked towards the foyer, a dark glare concentrated on the blond man who claimed to be Relena's fiancee. When he walked past him, his shoulder not-so-accidently pushed Quatre out of the way.   
  
Quatre shook his head. "Yes. And it was great to meet you, too." The front door slammed shut behind Heero. "So. That's Heero." He lifted his eyebrows. "Nice guy."  
  
"He is a nice guy," Hilde scowled. "You just sort of got him at the worst moment of his life, save for the months he spent in a North Vietnamese torture chamber, of course."  
  
"Quatre..." Duo gave her hand a squeeze of his own. "This is Hilde."   
  
He nodded at the girl he had heard so much about. "Welcome home to you, too."  
  
Millardo put his arm around his wife. "Can you check on Relena before we head to bed?"   
  
She nodded. "Goodnight, Duo. Quatre." Together, they started up the stairs.   
  
Hilde looked up at Duo. "I guess I should get back to the hotel." Clearing her throat, she reluctantly pulled her hand away from his.   
  
Duo caught her wrist without warning. "Do you actually think I'm letting you get away from me again, babe?"  
  
She blinked. "You called me 'babe'."  
  
"Well..." He reached out his free hand to stroke her cheek. "You're my babe. Aren't you?"  
  
Hilde stared into his eyes for a long moment. Warm and violet, they enveloped her, making her completely safe for the first time in a long time. She would eventually have to tell him everything...the drugs, the promiscuity, Trowa...and he probably had things to tell her, too. But for that moment, none of it mattered.  
  
"I am," she replied. Duo's smile descended onto hers, sealing the words with the sweetest of kisses. "And I'm home. For good."   
  
Quatre cleared his throat, reminding them that he was still in the room. "Hey, man..." Duo licked his lips. "Um...do you want to go for a burger with us? Or something?"   
  
"No, that's all right. I'm going to..." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm going to wait. To talk to Relena."   
  
Duo patted his back. "Tell her I'm thinking about her." He looked at Hilde. "We. We're thinking about her."  
  
"I will." Quatre watched them leave, holding hands. With a sigh, he sat down in an armchair, preparing himself for a very long wait.  
  
****  
  
It wasn't too long before Relena finally came back down the stairs. She had changed out of her wedding dress around the same time her tears had dried up. Now, clad in worn jeans and one of Quatre's old shirts that she was supposed to have sewed a patch onto many months before, Relena crept into the parlor.   
  
Her fiancee was curled up on the sofa, dozing. His eyes opened as he felt her presence. "Relena."  
  
She tried to speak, but nothing came out. She looked at him, the man who had helped her through the roughest years of her young life. His sleepy eyes were hopeful; there was a part of him that innocently believed the night's surprises might have no bearing on their future together.   
  
But the rest of him knew better.  
  
"Relena," he began again, as he sat up. "Please don't say it. I already know."  
  
"How can you know when I'm still not sure myself?"   
  
Quatre stood and rubbed the back of his neck. "I think you are sure. You just don't want to hurt me." He smiled sadly. "That's the Relena I love. The Relena I will always love."   
  
"You deserve someone so much better than me." Fresh sobs appeared as Relena went to him, throwing her arms around his neck. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for putting you through this. I didn't use you, Quatre, I swear. Please believe me, you have a part of my heart forever."  
  
"But Heero is your heart." Quatre blinked back a tear before grasping her hands and gently prying her away to look into her eyes. "He always has been, hasn't he?" She nodded miserably. "It's all right, Relena. I understand. I mean, it hurts, sure. But I've always told you...and it's always been true...your happiness is my happiness." He faked another smile. "Now, if you don't think you can be happy with Heero, I'll be more than willing to meet you at the altar tomorrow." There was a pause. "But your only true happiness is with him, isn't it?"  
  
Relena looked down at the carpet. "I decided to marry Heero Yuy when I was ten years old. Sitting by my window...wishing on stars." Her teary gaze returned to Quatre. "The universe almost took him away, but now they've given him back to me. I can't lose him again."   
  
Quatre nodded. "I know." His eyes squeezed shut. Forcing them open, he pulled her head towards himself and kissed her hairline. "When you marry him, I'll be the first one to wish you all the best."  
  
Relena kissed his cheek, wetting his skin with her tears. "You have the biggest heart. Thank you, Quatre." She looked down at her hand and the ring that graced it. Slowly, she slipped it off her finger and held it out to him, unable to say the words.  
  
"No." Quatre shook his head, refusing to take it from her. "I want you to keep it. So you don't forget...how much I loved you."  
  
"I could never forget." She pressed a final, chaste kiss onto his lips. "You were my friend before. I hope you will be after."   
  
He backed up towards the door. "I will." There was a pause. "He really is the luckiest bastard in the world."  
  
Relena sat in the parlor for a long time after Quatre had left. The ring in her hand was heavy. Heero was just next door, as he had been for most of her life. It should have been a comforting though, yet she was fairly sure she wouldn't be sleeping that night.  
  
****  
  
"Duo." Hilde stared into his bottomless amethyst eyes. "Part of me really wants to invite you in. But..."  
  
He held two fingers up against her lips. "Babe, I understand."  
  
Standing outside her motel room door, Hilde began to cry. Four years of pent-up sorrows flooded out onto Duo's strong shoulder. "I have so much to tell you, Duo, before I deserve to be with you again."  
  
"Babe..." He rubbed her back, savoring the feeling of her slender body pressed to his once again. "I know I have things to tell you, so I figured you might have things to tell me. We spent way too much time apart. And no matter what we each did in that time, all I want to do is make up for it. Can we do that?"  
  
Hilde smiled up at him through her tears. "I've missed you so much."   
  
"I know the feeling." His fingers gently cupped her chin. "I wasn't whole after you left. Now I am again."   
  
Reaching behind her, Hilde twisted the knob on the door. "Come inside."   
  
"You got it, babe." Duo grinned. "Just bear in mind that it's been awhile since I..."  
  
She cut him off with a hot kiss that reminded her why other men, including Trowa, might have had her body, but no one besides Duo could ever have her heart. "Don't worry. It's like riding a bicycle. Just hold on, and I'll steer you around the curves."   
  
Duo whistled for the second time that night as she tugged him into the room. "Come on baby, light my fire."  
  
****  
  
Relena's sleep, when it finally came, was anything but restful. She woke up well after the sun had rose, but lay in bed for a long time. It was only when she heard a familiar sound that she sat up in bed.   
  
It was the whir of a lawnmower. And it was coming from somewhere very close.   
  
Throwing off the covers, Relena ran to her bay window and pushed open the curtains. In the yard next door, just as though it were 1965 again, Heero Yuy was mowing his mother's lawn wearing only a faded pair of jeans.   
  
Relena clutched a hand to her heart to keep it inside her chest. Suddenly, Heero stopped to wipe sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. As he did, his gaze lifted towards her house...towards her window. When he caught sight of her watching him, he froze.   
  
Taking a breath, Relena held up a hand, signaling him to wait where he was. She backed up from the window and ran for her door, completely ignoring the fact that she was still wearing her cotton pajama pants and Quatre's old shirt.  
  
When she emerged from the house, Heero had stopped the lawn mower and was walking the path up to his own front door. "Heero!" she called to him. He kept walking.  
  
Relena ran across the grass as fast as she could to catch up with him before he re-entered the house. "Heero...wait!!"  
  
He stopped suddenly. Relena came to a halt, her chest rising and falling rapidly. He turned around. "What are you doing, Relena?"  
  
"I'm chasing after you! Didn't you get that I wanted you to wait?"   
  
"I didn't know we'd have anything to talk about," he replied nonchalantly. "I figured you made your mind up last night."  
  
She shook her head. "Heero, regardless of any decision I have made or still have to make, I still want to talk to you! You..." A small hiccup rose in her throat. "You've been dead for almost two years. And now you're just....here. Back from the grave... I'm trying very hard to handle all of this. I'm sorry..."  
  
Heero slipped his hands into his pockets. "I didn't know I'd be barging into your new life."  
  
"You told me to get one," she reminded him softly.  
  
"I did, yes. But I didn't know how much it would hurt to see you in a wedding gown. For someone else."   
  
Relena tugged at the long sleeve of her shirt. "I tried to move on. I had to. Two years, Heero. Even before that, I hadn't heard from you for a year. Except for the letter..."  
  
"The letter." He looked down at the freshly cut grass. "Relena, when I wrote that...you know, I can't even remember what I was thinking. I was probably angry. We had fought and you were so against what I had chosen for myself." After a moment, he touched his napalm scar. "But I can't blame you for that. Some of the things I saw, Relena...it was nothing short of hell. But I still believe, I will always believe, that I was doing something good. You just can't understand."  
  
"But I do," she whispered. "When you died, I thought about it so long. I cursed everyone. I even cursed God. I thought you had died for nothing. But that was wrong of me, Heero. I need you to forgive me."  
  
"Forgive you?"  
  
"For thinking your sacrifice was in vain! I didn't believe for a long time that you were trying to do the exact same thing I claimed to be trying to do. Change the world. But I get it now, Heero, I do. I promise."  
  
He took a step towards her. "Relena...I'm sorry."   
  
"Why are you apologizing to me? I was the one who picked that fight and then couldn't bring myself to fix us. When I thought you were dead..." Her vision of him blurred through her tears. "I didn't hate anyone more than I hated myself."  
  
"Baby," Heero whispered. "I'm sorry I made you suffer so much. If I hadn't gone..."  
  
"If you hadn't gone, you wouldn't have been the man I love."  
  
A breeze blew over them, twisting her long hair around her face. On instinct, Heero reached out to smooth a strand away from her eyes. "You still love me?" She nodded. "What about your fiancee?"  
  
"We talked. It won't be easy for him, but he understands." Relena swallowed. "You're the man I love, Heero. Nothing can change that." She smiled through her tears. "Even death."  
  
Heero slowly shook his head. "Why do you trust me so much with your heart?"  
  
"Because..." She stepped up to him until she could feel the warmth of his breath against her temple. "You've never given me reason not to." Relena studied his face. The scar...on some basic level, it shocked her. But there was nothing repulsive about him. He was still so handsome. She closed her eyes and kissed the wrinkled flesh.  
  
He tried to take a step back, but she stopped him by putting her hands around the back of his head to keep her lips on his cheek. "Relena...you don't have to do this. I know it's ugly and..."  
  
"Nothing about you is ugly." She traced the edge of his ear. "And Heero, even if you had come back to me burned from head to toe, I would still need...I would still *want* to touch you for the rest of my life. I thought I'd never get to again." She laughed from the pure joy of having him next to her. "You came back to me! I feel like my whole world has been miraculously sewn back together."   
  
Heero let his hands settle on her waist. His eyes closed as a tear slipped down the inside of his nose. "Relena..." In one fluid motion, his strong arms folded around her and he lifted her up off the ground. "I love you, baby."  
  
She buried her face in his neck, breathing in his clean sweat scent. "I've missed you so much, my love." Her tears flowed freely. "Please don't ever let me go."  
  
"Well, I might have to." Relena sniffed and, puzzled, pulled back, hard to do when she was still suspended in mid-air. Heero pressed the softest of kisses against her wet lips. "Half of the neighborhood is watching," he explained.   
  
"Let them watch. I love you, Heero." After he had set her back down, Relena lowered his mouth back to hers and didn't let go of him for a long time. The fire of his lips consumed her. She put her whole body and heart in the kiss, the two pieces of her self back together once again. Just like her and the love of her life.  
  
****  
  
Three months later, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. But the real celebration that day was in Peacecraft, North Carolina, where, in front of their family and friends, Relena Peacecraft and Heero Yuy promised to love, honor and cherish each other until death really did do them part.   
  
That first night of their marriage, they laid in the bed of their luxury honeymoon suite in New York City and watched the live broadcast of the first moonwalk, completely wrapped up in each other. Relena nestled her head in the curve of Heero's neck; his hands traced lazy patterns on the soft skin of her bare back.   
  
The staticky voice from the moon reached through the set. "That's one small step for man....one giant leap for mankind."   
  
"I sort of feel that the whole decade's over now," Relena murmured a moment later, her fingers lightly brushing the scarred slash marks on his chest. "Like it can't get any bigger than this. People walking on the moon. I mean, what's next?"  
  
He drew in a breath as she continued to soothe his war wounds with her gentle caresses. She didn't shy away from the scars; she accepted them as part of him. And for it, he would love her until the end of time. "There's always that Woodstock thing next month that Duo and Hilde can't shut up about."  
  
Relena laughed softly. "I think we can pass on that one." A long moment passed as they watched the American astronauts experimenting with walking in zero gravity. "I love you," she said, out of the blue.   
  
Leaving the television on, he rolled her over and kissed her. "Whatever comes next, it'll be just fine. As long as you're right here with me."   
  
"I'm not going anywhere." In the middle of a deep kiss, Heero gently joined their bodies once more. "1970 can come," Relena whispered into his ear. "I'm ready for it."  
  
****  
  
Peacecraft, North Carolina  
September, 1973  
  
The dreams came to him every so often. He was never certain what it was during the day that triggered his sub-conscience at night. A car backfiring. A news helicopter flying overhead while he was jogging. A segment on the television, taped in Saigon. The war was a lifetime away, but when he was least prepared, it had the power to sneak up on Heero in his sleep.   
  
Usually when he woke up, sweating profusely, his eyes wide, his hands searching through the sheets for a weapon or some mud to coat his face, she would be there to get him through it. Stroking his hair, his back, his bare chest, she would talk him out of the hell of the dream.   
  
Relena was his link to the present on those times when the past seized him up once again. But that night, he had to shake himself from the ghostly grip of the torture chamber because when he reached out, her side of the bed was empty. As soon as his heart stopped racing and the cold sweat had started to dry on his skin, Heero climbed out of bed and went in search of his wife.   
  
The hallway he passed through was dark, but there was enough light for him to see the pictures that lined the walls. A portrait of Millardo, Lucrezia and their son, Jacob, when he was five months old. A framed, yellowing clipping from the town newspaper of Duo and Hilde wrapped in an American flag and kissing passionately at Woodstock.   
  
Duo's draft notice in November of 1969 had nearly destroyed both Hilde and Relena. For awhile it had seemed as though nothing short of Duo appearing before the draft board in Hilde's underwear would keep him out of Vietnam. But through some miracle, Duo's parents had materialized and supplied an old medical report to the Army, documenting Duo's existing heart murmur. It was enough to keep him out of the war, as well as being the first and only kind hand the couple had ever shown their son.   
  
Heero continued down the hall, past the 1971 cover of *Time* magazine that had given Quatre Winner the exalted title of "Youngest, Most Successful CEO in America." In the glossy photo, the man's eyes were still as sad as they had been on his and Relena's wedding day; his father's unexpected death had forced him to abandon his dreams of law school and civil rights activism in favor of the Fortune 500. But right next to the framed cover was a photo taken in the spring of 1972 of Quatre and his new bride, a sweet Raleigh socialite who adored much more about him than just his money. And in their wedding portrait, the smile on his face couldn't be contained.  
  
On the little hall table, tucked underneath a fresh bowl of scarlet tea roses, were two letters, one from Trowa and one from Wufei. He hadn't had an opportunity to read over them yet, but made a mental note to as soon as possible. Both men were back in America; Trowa had reunited with his girlfriend, Catherine, married, and was expecting a child in the fall. In a coincidence that Heero still had a hard time believing, Wufei was now living with the woman who had saved his life in Lo Ke, Dr. Sally Po. His friends were happy, and that meant a great deal to him. Anyone who lived through what they had deserved only happiness.  
  
He stopped in front of the farthest door on the left, which was slightly ajar. Heero opened it slowly to avoid any squeaky hinges and stepped inside. Across the room, in a rocking chair by the wide window that poured soft moonlight into the room, he found what he was looking for. His girl.   
  
Both of them.  
  
Three-month-old Harmony Yuy was cuddled up against Relena's breast; both ladies were fast asleep. Heero walked across the soft, pink carpet carefully, as not to wake either one. But Relena was too quick for him. She stirred when he was within a few feet and opened her eyes. "Heero?"  
  
"I was trying not to wake you."  
  
"Is everything all right?"   
  
He nodded. "I'm fine. Now. Go back to sleep."  
  
Giving him a sleepy smile, Relena closed her eyes. When he was sure that she was asleep once again, Heero sat on the wide edge of the windowsill and stared at his wife and daughter. After a moment of silent contemplation, he reached out to touch Harmony's tiny fist which lay in a ball on Relena's arm. In her sleep, the baby's palm opened and latched onto Heero's index finger.   
  
He couldn't have pulled away if he had tried, but then, he never would have tried.  
  
Leaning back against the window's frame, Heero fell asleep next to his wife, with his daughter's impossibly tiny fingers curled around his. The past might not ever leave him completely alone, but no dream plagued him for the rest of that night.   
  
****  
  
"Ev'ry time my little world seems blue, I just have to look at you. And everything seems to be some kind of wonderful. I know I can't express, this feeling of tenderness, there's so much I wanna say, but the right words just won't come my way. I just know when I'm in your embrace, this world is a happy place. And everything seems to be some kind of wonderful." -The Drifters  
  
****  
  
The End  
  
****  
  
Thank you all. I hope it was worth it:) 


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